Every day after school, sophomore Christine Mallard and the varsity track team gather around the football field to start practice. Mallard prepares herself to work on the sprints she will run at the upcoming meets. She works toward a return to the regional track meet after a disqualification her freshman season because of a false start.
Mallard’s track career started in 5th grade at Donna Shepard when a friend encouraged her to join the after-school track program. The students competed against each other in a 100-meter dash.
“Back then I didn’t know what I was doing but there was this one race where it was really close and I won and after that, I just went from there,” Mallard said.
Mallard realized her initial interest in track when she ran her first race. Mallard joined a track club team as an independent runner in middle school where she worked with specialized coaches on sprints and workout. With her club team, Mallard travels to meets, such as at A&M, in front of college representatives to gain experience for a college team.
“Running at A&M provided me insight on how college was going to work because if I get a track scholarship, I will also have to run indoors,” Mallard said. “It has also given me a lot of insight on how to interact with people and how to react to certain situations.”
Mallard also runs summer track in preparation for meets such as the USA meet or the Junior Olympics. Her routine also involves stretching every day, a healthy diet and extra conditioning during the off-season.
“Running a track has taught me a lot in the sense of learning to work with other people and their expectations, but overall it teaches me to keep a clear head while I am running,” Mallard said.
Mallard hopes to continue her track career for as long as possible and receive a scholarship to run in college.
“I want to continue running past high school,” Mallard said, “and I will continue to work hard in order to do that.”
For now, Mallard runs on Legacy’s varsity track team. Mallard hopes to advance to the regional meet in the spring after the disqualification from last year’s meet.
“I think Christine will have another good season,” track coach Trey Bates said. “I look for her to [set a personal record] in the 100-meter race this year and hopefully make it to state.”
Mallard continues to run every day with the track team and pursue her individual training. She will compete in the district qualifier to advance to regionals.
“I would say when it comes to running high school track with everyone in the state it becomes a lot to handle,” Mallard said. “I gained a lot of experience from my first regional meet, and I expect to make it back this year if I continue to work hard.”
