ReillyO’Brien

Marian’s track and field team is making some changes. This is the first year that students will serve as team captains. Senior Eleri Bredehoeft has been competing in track events since she was in 8th grade at Blair. “I was really excited to be able to compete,” Bredehoeft said. Bredehoeft competes in shotput and discus. Both are throwing events; shotput involves pushing, or throwing, a metal ball from the neck area through the air as far as possible. Discus is similar, but instead of throwing a ball, athletes throw a disk-like metal-rimmed object. In both events athletes will spin around a circle that is of a certain diameter in order to gain momentum.

Senior Paige Dillon has been involved in track and field since she was in 7th grade. Dillon competes in the 400, 200, 100, 4×4, 4×1 and pole vault. Every practice starts in a pretty similar way. It starts with a big team meeting to go over the last meet. Then, they split off into their own groups. Sometimes they have weights and if they don’t, they will warm up together and go practice their throwing.

The runners also participate in the big group meeting. “Sometimes we run hills, do block starts, or work on hand-offs,” Dillon said.

“Some days are harder and other days we take it easy to recover or get ready for a meet,” Dillon said.

Having team captains is a big change, but Bredehoeft is embracing her new role. “Captains are important because they hold the other girls accountable and are an extension for the coaches to connect with them to help them get better,” Bredehoeft said.

Bredehoeft said it is important to have that extra peer connection; it could enable girls to reach out and ask for help if it is more accessible to them.
“Having captains is valuable because there are a lot of people coming in and
trying track and field for the first time and don’t know what they are doing, so it is important for that captain to be able to help, give advice
and prepare their teammates for their events to do the best
they can,” Dillon said.

There are a few extra things that captains do to help the team. “We have to go to at least two of the JV meets to support and help the girls if needed; we
also have the occasional ‘Ted Talk’ meeting that is supposed to help
us better lead the team,” Bredehoeft said.

Senior night took place on April 2 at Prep. Fifteen seniors were honored.
Marian’s track and field team is excited for the coming season. They are ready to take on any challenges that may come their way.