NC’s track and field team has begun preparing for another season of growth and improvement. Finishing sixth in the region last spring due to a highly competitive division and a young team, this year’s roster similarly features a higher proportion of underclassmen to upperclassmen. The coaches’ forecast: a rebuilding season with a focus on overall improvement as younger athletes gain experience in the sport.

“Our focus this year will be to look at who our competitors are for next year, and then try to train our younger athletes to be competitive, where we can score more points. Because track is ultimately 18 events, and they all count the same right? So it’s just a matter of trying to disperse those points over the events. What makes track so interesting is you don’t necessarily have to be the best, but if you have a lot of good people, then points can surprise you,” sprinting coach Chad Talley said.

This reality may lead to an assumption that the team holds no lofty plans or hopes for the current season, but that conclusion lies far from the truth. Several returning team members competed at high levels in county and region last year, and remain on the trajectory of competing at that level again. Additionally, new members realizing their potential and rising to the top remains a possibility. Regardless of their performance, however, the team’s future looks bright.

“We will definitely be looking forward to next year where we change regions, maybe go into a slightly less competitive track region. I think a lot of [the underclassmen] are excited about that because it’s really tough when you’re trying to build a program going against the sustained powerhouses of Marietta and Harrison where they have these high-level programs, but next year, we’re going to be more competitive,”  Talley said.

This season promises NC’s track team a fantasy unfulfilled for roughly seven years: a meet on-campus. Scheduled for Wednesday, March 23, the meet will finally showcase the updated equipment that the school has worked to accumulate in recent years. Holding the meet will also bolster the team’s identity as an invested and legitimate contender.

“We have improved our facilities tremendously. We have upgraded almost every single thing with just a very few exceptions, so hopefully, with a little bit more help a little bit more numbers we can start having events here instead of having to travel everywhere every single year for the entire year. It’s tough to never have a home game here year after year and a lot of these kids, even the seniors, they’ve never had that. Hopefully, for our younger ones, this will become more common,” Talley said.

The athletes themselves, especially those who previously experienced what track and field offers, look forward to competing in future meets. For experienced team members, the responsibility of guiding underclassmen through the nuances of the sport provides a chance to lead.

“This is my third year doing track, but [my] freshman year was cut very short, so my sophomore year was my first full season and I actually got to see progress. I think I’ll be able to pick up where I left off last season and grow even more,” magnet junior Brooklyn Bolden said.