The 2016 boys track and field team placed first at the Fenton Invitational and third at Conference, according to Head Coach Kurt Hasenstein. Several key players were contributors to the team’s success. Hasenstein is hopeful that the team will continue improving during the outdoor season through hard work in practice.

Additionally, Hasenstein states that the team has shown promise over the last couple meets in their indoor season. According to Hasenstein, important meets such as the indoor conference and state are coming up in May, which means the team needs to be at the top of their game if they want the good results.

“We’re off to a great start [because] we finished first at our very first invitational and third at our conference meet,” Hasenstein said. “The biggest improvement I’ve seen is really the senior leadership with our captains. We had a young group with a lot of inexperienced guys at varsity level, but they’ve really come together to put the team together nicely and set good examples by their work ethic and [working hard during practice].”

Senior Captain Patrick Doumitt is also hopeful that the team will continue winning more conference meets as they have been very successful in the indoor season. It is very vital that they keep improving and working hard, according to Doumitt.

“Everybody played really well [during conference],” Doumitt said.  “[It’s a good feeling] placing top half of conference. I think that was probably our best meet overall.”

Important meets that the team should look out for are coming up in May, which include the Titan invitationals and conference meet held at New Trier. Hasenstein explains how vital those meets are to their season. In order to establish themselves as competitive, the team needs to get satisfactory scores.

“[During] the outdoor season, our most important meets really happen in May, and that’s our Titan Invitational, and then the conference meet at New Trier and the sectional meet which is the state qualifying round,” Hasenstein said.