Schreiber’s girls track and field team is coming off of a great season from last year and is excited to work their way up in order to become a better team in the future.  The team feels that their future is bright in many of the events the athletes compete in.  

The team last year had many achievements that they look to build upon in future years.  They were able to secure many championship titles and send multiple girls to staten level competitions.

“We were Conference I Champions and Outdoor Division IB Champions.  We also regularly send girls up to the state meet.  Last winter we had four girls at States,” said senior captain Ava Gellis, one of the runners who ran at States last year.

The team is proud of their previous accomplishments and looks to the future for titles to bring home. As the girls enter their Winter Season, they have been focusing on finding new ways to trim off even the slightest amount of time from their records.

The main running events in the Winter season include the 55M, 300M, 600M, 1000M, and 1500M.  All of these races happen indoors during the notoriously long and competitive winter track meets. 

The season records so far belong to junior Grace Livio in the 55M with a time of 8.27 seconds, Gellis in the 300m with a time of 43.69 seconds, senior captain Leah Taylor in the 600M with a time of 1:51.22, freshman Bethany Ekezie in the 1000M with a time of 3:25.95, and junior Samantha Krayeski in the 1500M with a time of 5:18.54.

The members of the team last year are already looking ahead in order to have another successful season.  Athletes are looking forward to the endurance testing workouts throughout the winter that will improve their speed during the spring season.

Their coach, Jeremiah Pope, pushes the girls harder and harder everyday, giving them pointers to help them learn from their mistakes.  With their season’s success in mind, they all train very hard to perform the best possible in their own events.

“Last year we trained with a variety of intense workouts, hill sprints, speed, weight room and more.  Our coach is very knowledgeable and he makes sure that we have a mixture of workouts with rest days,” said senior captain Sophie Roth.

Many of the athletes note that they see real improvements in their skills because runners can be three-season athletes.  Cross country, winter track, and spring track all give athletes the opportunity to train year-round.  This truly helps the athletes cultivate their abilities. 

“This year, the team is focusing on training hard earlier in the season and towards the middle of the season so athletes will be able to peak when more important meets arrive at the end of the season.  Many runners are using regular meets as workouts in order to perform as best as they can,” said Roth.   

These important meets that Roth describes are the focal point of the team’s season that sends the girls to higher competitions such as Conferences, Counties, States, and even Nationals.  The girls that go to these higher qualification often do so because they are the best for their individual event.

This season, the girls are looking to compete with athletes from around the world in events hosted at the Armory in New York City.

On Dec. 15, many raced at the AT&T Coaches Hall of Fame Invitational, with Gellis running the highly competitive 300M dash.

Much of the success comes from the fact that the girls are setting high standards for their team with the hopes of sending more competitors to elite tournaments.  The underclassmen are working hard to compete with older, more experienced athletes. Many are already scoring in races, including freshmen Kaeleigh Romero, Emily Benson-Tyler, Bethany Ekezie, and Paige Nettesheim.

“The freshmen have really stepped up. They are honestly all really good especially since some have shown it in jumping, long distance and sprinting.  In other meets such as County Championships and more, I think a decent amount will be selected, most likely around ten people,” said sophomore Amanda Dalmonte.