The Girls Varsity Track and Field team has been working harder than ever this year trying to be the first East Grand Rapids team to be Girls Track and Field state champions. This year has already had many obstacles added to the path that the team must hurdle.

The first of these hurdles has been the change in coaching. When Nicholas Hopkins resigned earlier this year, it left the Track and Field team coachless. Michael Dykstra stepped in to fill the position. 

As M. Dykstra put it, there are many “new pieces” and the team is working to get organized. Though among all the new, there is some old. There are many athletes that have returned to the Track and Field team from last year who went to states. These include Ana Grunewald ‘18, Jessie Trube ‘18, Emma Battle ‘19, Jenna Dykstra ‘20, Margret Coney ‘20, and Abby Williams ‘20.

The second obstacle has been the weather. Even Michiganders don’t expect snow in April, but this year it came. This has cancelled two meets, but since the beginning of this season’s practices, March 11, none have been cancelled! “You can catch the distance girls running through  rain and snow, and the sprinters practice inside when the weather is bad,” said Anna Petr ‘20, showing just how dedicated the team really is.

As it is now mid-May, with better weather, the team is trying to make up for the meets that have been lost.

“Three of the five big meets have been cancelled or cut short due to weather,” Athletic Director Tim Johnston said.

Because many of the large meets were cancelled due to weather, several events have had to be added to conference meets.

I feel like something is missing here, like talking about a meet. I have some information below about a meet early in the season, but I think it would be better to talk about a more recent meet.

The Girls Varsity Track and Field team definitely has an exciting season ahead of them filled with new and old, maybe 2018 will be the year the girls finally grasp the title of champions.

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According to the Track and Field Coach, M. Dykstra, the season has been very “off and on”. There will be good weather and the team will have practices like usual, and then the weather will be awful and the track is covered in snow. The girls will only have four weeks of normal races before conference champions.

One of two meets the team has had was an indoor meet at Aquinas College Tuesday, March 27. This meet allowed only two people per event for a team, limiting the students who were able to attend.

The second meet was the Kent City Elite Invitational. Petr, Coney, Sarah Cannon ‘18, and Hannah Bodine ‘21 all attended. Petr ran a time of 5:27, seven seconds short of her personal best and the fastest of the East girls running. “This year I hope to go to States for the mile, and am definitely confident in my ability to qualify, as my PR is faster than the time needed!” said Petr. On Wednesday March, 25, the Varsity Track and Field team will take on Wayland Union High School at 4pm.