The Spring 2021 Track & Field Season

By Sung Min Cho ’22
​The Westminster Boys’ and Girls’ track team has been hard at work this spring. Of course, the 2021 spring season is the first time in two years that the group has had a chance to gather together.

Every practice begins with a half-mile, two-lap warmup. Run by the entire team as a group, the warmup is promptly followed by dynamic stretching. The stretches are a key part of injury prevention and spans the gamut from fours to duck walks. Of course, music is almost always present as a part of the stretching routine, and the team features varied artists such Polo G. and Taylor Swift. In fact, the team is proud to boast a collaborative Spotify playlist created earlier in the season with input from a wide range of members.
 
On the distance side, practices have consisted of a nice mix of long-distance and fast-paced workouts. Mondays are long run days, and the team has raised its mileage from a short four to very respectable eight milers. These runs are often the most scenic, and that has certainly been the case this spring. Daffodils are blooming en masse down the side of Williams Hill, the poplar trees flower by Memorial Hall, and there are some phenomenal cherry trees situated outside Winterset. Tuesdays are meant for secondaries, and the crew is much smaller. This day is geared towards exploration, and students go branching out on their own, running behind Andrews Memorial Chapel and by Pratt House or looping across the upper fields. Wednesdays are the team’s workout days, and are invariably tense. A sample of past Wednesdays includes 1k repeats, a 6x400 workout, and a 2x600-400-200-200 ladder. The team takes Thursday to recover and jog slowly as a group for about 3 miles; often, there are two groups, one which stays on softer surfaces, and another which heads out to Musket Trail or Firetown. Friday is all about pre-meet preparation, and the plan is always a course jog. Afterward, the group is often caught up deciding the team cheer for the day, which, for the record, has ranged from ‘Popeyes chicken’ to ‘sus.’
 
There’s an incredible degree of room for fun on the team: group chats share running Tiktoks, protein shakes of varying quality and flavor are concocted and shared, and the coaches surprise the squad with cookies and feeds when the team least suspects.
 
The meet against Choate May 1 was the last, but the energy and spirit of the team will continue far beyond that, thanks to the dedication and effort of Captain Tunji Osho-Williams ‘21 and the coaches, Mr. Huguley, Ms. Vailas, Mr. Mayfield, Ms. Burrall, Ms. Babbidge and Mr. Greenwald.