Track season running around the corner
By Daisy Leading Fox
Owasso High School is one of the few schools in the Tulsa area recognized for their incredible athletes along with an outstanding sports administration in general. As we exit the long and cold month of January, some of our prized sports teams are preparing for an amazing spring season, one of which, being the Owasso Track and Field Team.
Photo taken by Amber Hall
Owasso Track and Field is one of the core teams here at OHS, as it includes an abundant amount of students through every grade, even carrying into the middle schools. But how does the track team get to where they are by the time the official season hits? Who keeps track of all the practices and conditioning they partake in? That would be our very own track Coaches, Blake Collins, Rachael Graddy, Vickie Graham, James Burkhalter, Victor Marquez, Asa Poteete and Jessica Washington.
Although it seems like quite a few, for the amount of students involved with this demanding activity, these coaches are a necessity.
Blake Collins, one of the Owasso Track/XC coaches, explains the process and transition from the fall cross country team into the spring track team, saying, “For our kids, [the practices] never really end.” He continued, “With cross country, [it] ends before Thanksgiving break and then we start track the Monday after.”
Track is a formidable and time-consuming sport, but these athletes and these coaches know it’s all worth it.
Photo taken by Erin Hendrick
Most of the questions non-athletes ask aim around what the track team really does. Why are these practices so often and why are they needed? The simple answer to these questions: meets. Track meets are like any other sports tournament or game. The team goes to a designated location along with several surrounding schools and competes for the winning medal. Track has multiple groups inside the team such as pole vaulters, sprinters, long-distance, shot and disk and more.
“We can go to eight regular season meets, and then regionals and state so most of [the] kids will run nine to ten meets,” Collins recounted.
Multiple coaches at Owasso are also teachers for the first half of the day, one of which being track coach Rachael Graddy.
“This is my 13th year teaching, so every year I’ve gotten better at refining the process,” Graddy explained. “[The] first year teaching and coaching I took papers home to grade … [but now] I can run it pretty efficiently.”
Graddy went on to explain the process of balancing teacher and coach roles and how it’s refreshing to get close to several kinds of students.
One thing we as people love about being involved with these kinds of extracurriculars are the people. The emotional connections, the highs and the lows and the adrenaline rush of succeeding beside each other all come together to make life a little more lovable.
“It’s rewarding because you see how hard these kids work every single day, [they] put in all this time and effort and then you get to a track meet and all of a sudden [an athlete gets a personal record]—it's a big deal.” Graddy reflected, “There’s heartbreak too, … but I feel a little closer with my athletes, and I get to cheer them on. … The snacks are pretty great too.”