This season the Girls Track and Field team is traveling around the U.S. to compete against the best competition in the nation.

Coach Jimmy Hawthorne is the head coach for the Girls Track and Field team. When asked about the team’s reasoning for traveling he said, “I feel that the only way to get better is to compete against the Best Competition. It’s simple, to run against the fastest will only make us faster. For example, we are running in The Dallas Carter Shootout March 22, 2019. Dallas Carter is the defending State Champion in the State of Texas both Boys and Girls.”

They will compete in Texas, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Traveling allows the team to broaden the range of competitors beyond the Central Suburban League South (CSLS).

Last year, many meets were canceled due to inclement weather. Without the meets, athletes had fewer opportunities to develop a competition mindset. To address this issue, the Girls Track and Field program added more meets against tougher competition. Hawthorne mentioned that his reasoning behind more meets is, “to get in shape (early in the season), establish timing (relays), staying active, building team bonding, chemistry, and exposure for athletes.”

With this new season ahead, they’re also preparing through pre-season workouts lead by a team captain of each event.

Rosalie Xavier, senior captain, said “For the preseason, we’ve really been focusing on the mechanics of running and short, explosive, workouts to increase our fast twitch muscles. By doing specific exercises, we are able to better ourselves for each of out individual event makes us a stronger team as a whole.”

If you want to know more about Girls Track and Field, email head coach Jimmy Hawthorne at [email protected].