Men’s
To kick off the men’s varsity track and field outdoor season, the team competed at the Schaumburg invite on April 7. However, they were not at full strength at the meet.
According to head coach Kurt Hasenstein, they were missing their top hurdler, senior Gus Shipp. Shipp is currently recovering from a hamstring injury. Also unable to compete due to a hamstring injury was junior Ose Ilenikhena, who is a top high jumper.
“Those guys contribute a lot of points when we go to major meets, so it was kind of a bummer not to have them [that] weekend, but it’s part of sports,” Hasenstein said.
Due to the absent athletes, senior Max Leonard was the only individual champion of that meet. He achieved this in discus throwing.
“We do have a very, very strong sophomore class,” Hassenstein said.
According to Hassenstein, these strong sophomores include Luke Pilliod, Omar Duran, Sean Alexander and David Harris. Together they compete in relays.
Coming up tonight is the GBN Spartan Relays.
“Everything there is a relay, even the field events,” Hassenstein said. “So you have to have good depth. [It’s] a great measure of your team’s strength and depth.”
After the Spartan relays come the Titan Invite, Conference and then Sectionals.
The team hopes to finish in the top 5 in Sectionals.
Women’s
The women’s track team entered this season aiming for a top three finish in conference. In the indoor season they ended up finishing fourth place out of 16.
Multiple athletes have led the team this season. Senior Danielle DeVito set two school records. One record she set was on in the indoor 1600-meter run with a time of 5:22:30. She also broke the school record in the 3200-meter run. She dropped her own time by 40 seconds on the 3200-meter run.
Sophomore Anastasia Athas is currently the top athlete in the triple jump. She increased her distance from last year of 33 feet to 35 feet this year.
According to coach Fred Kocian, juniors Melissa Bastanipour, Niki Wells, sophomore Danielle Yapor and freshman Shannon Carroll are all running very well in the 800-meter.
Carroll currently has the team’s top time in the 800-meter run.
In the Wheaton Warrenville invite on April 16, Brook Thomas set the long jump record of 16.5 feet. Also in this meet, Wells set the team’s top time for the 400- meter run.
Kocian believes underclassmen on varsity affect the older athletes.
“When new people come on the team and all [of] the sudden they start running, it sometimes pushes the people that have been here,” Kocian said. “I think a lot of people understand that it doesn’t matter what age.”
The team is working towards a top three finish in conference and to qualify for State.
“It’s all a matter of confidence,” Kocian said.