On April 25th and 26th, the PHS Track and Field team went overnight to Vancouver, Washington. They did so to compete in the Timberline invite, traveling for hours to reach their destination.
Organizing everything so that athletes can compete in places far from Pasco requires much planning. The girls’ head coach, Mara Alldredge, is in charge of scheduling how everything will go.
“I look for a meet that our athletes could be competitive in, and then I look for a hotel close to the place,” Coach Alldredge said, “And then I ask the coaches what standards we should set to decide what athlete we should take.”
With 39 high school athletes attending, things can get quite out of hand. The girl’s head coach explains her overnight Track and Field meet experience with this in mind.
“[I would rate the overnight experience a] 8/10, I like that the kids get a reward for doing the things that they’d been asked to do for the season, what I don’t like is when our athletes make bad decisions that make our school and team look bad.” Coach Alldredge said.
To prevent her athletes from misbehaving, she set some rules. Upon arriving at the hotel, they were only permitted to leave and explore if they were in a group of 3 or more people; they also had to let the coaches know who they were leaving with and where they were going.
They all had to be back at the hotel by 9:00 p.m. and in their rooms by 10:00 p.m. The pool was available to the athletes for an hour, from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. If any of these rules were broken, they would not be allowed to compete in the Timberline invite or the meet the following week.
Thankfully, none of the athletes broke these rules, and they were able to enjoy themselves. Jackson Horn, a sophomore who runs long distance, talks about what he likes best when going to an overnight meet.
“My favorite part is usually the night before [the meet]; messing around with my teammates and having fun, and not the running part, that’s the worst part,” Jackson said.
Some other athletes share the same opinion as Jackson; racing can be an experience filled with pain and nervousness.
Many abide by rituals (things they do) before racing, including taking naps, praying, staying off of one’s phones, etc.
However, despite the dreadful feeling that often comes with participating in one’s event in Track and Field, there is also a feeling of being rewarded.
Jeremy Biehl, an 11th-grade hurdler, gives his perspective on racing.
“Hurdling is just really something that I enjoy, it feels difficult in the moment, but after I’m done, I’m super happy I did it,” Jeremy said.
Many good things come after participating in Track and Field, whether it is the food you get afterwards, a new personal record, or hanging out with friends after an event; many positive memories are made.
