Gallery • 14 Photos

Thomas Chen

ALMOST THERE. Sophomore Langston Thompson drives his arm as he aims for the finish line. He finished first in his 200 meter heat.

It was freezing outside, but on the track and the field, athletes competed with energy and intensity. The sudden cold wave might have led to more blankets and down jackets than usually expected at a meet in May, but that didn’t stop the Spartans from earning a plethora of medals and personal records. Last Saturday, the Spartans competed in the IMAC Conference Championships at Providence Academy against Blake, Breck, Minnehaha, Mounds Park and Providence. Minnehaha won the boys team competition while Providence took it home for the girls.

Junior Clare Ryan Bradley said, “I felt like it was a good meet considering how cold it was.”

The championship began with the 4×800-meter relays. As the long-distance relays took off, athletes continued settling down in their school canopies lined outside the fenced track. The Spartan canopy housed a cornucopia of blankets, snacks, Gatorade and juice boxes. Coaches Donelly, Tepp and Arey stood on the field watching over and giving advice to prepping runners. In the early stages of the meet, many freezing athletes collectively huddled under blankets or tarps, socializing like it was a big slumber party.

Soon, however, the relays concluded, and more athletes began to shed their layers for the individual events. The short sprints came first, with many explosive and exciting heats. Bradley ran a PR of 13.34 seconds, taking third out of 17. She dominated her heat, taking the lead immediately with a quick start before widening the gap even further as she opened up her stride. Sophomores Roman Hozalski and Langston Thompson followed suit with their own PRs, nearly tying with times of 11.74 and 11.76. Running in the same heat, Thompson gained a slight advantage at the start, but Hozalski slowly but surely fought his way ahead, overtaking Thompson at the last moment.

While runners lit up the track, the field also proved to be a wealth of personal records. Nico Martin placed third in the triple jump, and Annika King PR’ed in the high jump. Though no Spartans competed in the pole vault, the event was a curious sight, with pole vaulters flying into the air with helmets on. Nijah Johnson and Ethan He also PR’ed in the shot put. Lastly, in the discus events, Johnson again PR’ed, and Patrick Wall did the same on the boys’ side.

At this point, the meet was in full swing. Most had already competed or were warming up. Standby athletes filled the canopies and turf, continuing to build community, with some cheering, others chatting away, while the rest goofed off.

Relays and long-distance events came right after the electrifying portion of short sprints. Wall and Noah Miller-Fimpel both PR’ed in the mile, while Mehmet Arey earned a season’s best.

The championship returned to shorter distance races and reached the final rounds of the field events. Spartan state champions Elizabeth Tuttle and Oliver Thompson won their specialty events. In the 300-meter hurdles, Tuttle dipped under 44 seconds for the first time in her career, running 43.89 seconds and becoming the third fastest in the state across all divisions. Thompson ran 49.10 in the 400 meters, winning by over 2-and-a-half seconds.

Many athletes competed in multiple events, with some alternating between the track and the field. Bradley competed in the 100 meters, 200 meters, 400 meters, 4×100 meter relay and the long jump. After their 200-meter heat, she and Tuttle fell to the ground in exhaustion, yet Bradley picked herself up and returned to jumping in the long jump finals. She was motivated by the t-shirts handed out to those who placed. First place earned a blue t-shirt, second received red, and third snagged white. She said, “I didn’t do my best, but it was my first time doing a lot of events this season so I’m overall happy. I’m looking forward to some warm weather so I can hopefully achieve more PRs.”

Spartan Track and Field will compete next at Breck on Thursday.