The Suffield Track and Field participated in their first meet of the season on Saturday, December 21. The athletes have been preparing and working hard every day to be ready for this NCCC Development Meet. The team has welcomed many athletes from past years, along with several newcomers. Over the years, the team has achieved great success at the NCCC conferences with the girls’ team winning conferences 2 years in a row and the boy’s team winning 4 years. The participants of the team have dwindled this year after losing many talented seniors along with many juniors not returning but, this year, the team hopes to continue their success, believing they can achieve this by having many athletes contribute significantly at each meet.
Pre Meet:
I got a chance to speak to two of the coaches, Lawrence Plano and Sean McCue, to get their thoughts on the upcoming meet. After speaking with both coaches separately they seem to have the same thoughts about the first meet. I wanted to understand how prepared the team was and if they had any worries about this weekend. “Let’s have fun first meet, let’s not stress, let’s not panic, let’s not worry about how we perform. Let’s just get there and do what we gotta do” stated Plano when asked about the mental preparation that goes into the competition. McCue said something very similar, “A lot of kids go in nervous, a lot of kids go in anxious, scared when in reality, there’s really no need for that”. The coaches have put in countless hours, preparing the team for this meet with conditioning, strength training, and mental preparation with the hopes that the athletes will feel comfortable and confident in their performance. Both McCue and Plano believe that this meet is more of a learning experience but they both still have expectations for every athlete.
Expectations are high but more so for past state qualifiers, Plano hopes that they can hit their state marks but is not putting pressure on them to set any personal records this meet. Both the coaches are very understanding about the nerves that come with doing your events and the pressure athletes put on themselves to succeed. McCue says “It’s not about winning and losing, it’s about self-improvement each and every time that you’re out there. You may fail or you may not set a PR but if you’re out there working hard, those PRs will come, those new records will come”. After speaking with various athletes, they all feel prepared for the challenges they may face during the meet. I asked the athletes (Anwesha Chandra, Hayli Graham, Prarthana Ray, Lourdes Lawson, and Heidi Storey) about how they mentally prepare for the meet and what pushes them through those hard moments of racing and competing and they all came back with the same answer of their friends and teammates. The support system that is the SHS track team is something that pushes every single one of these athletes through their hardest moments. Hearing your teammate cheering on you gives you the effort you need to give your event your all. Coach Plano, McCue, and Sinicrope have worked day by day to create an environment that allows every athlete to feel safe and supported. Going into the first meet, the team is filled with excitement and determination, and the athletes are ready to showcase their hard work.
Post Meet:
After reflecting on the meet many of the athletes were very confident with how they performed. There were many conference qualifiers, including Shannon Tallis, Isabella Hujber, Heidi Storey, Josh Zenzak, Shaunak Ukidwe, Owen Staunton, and Jacob Gagnon in the 55m dash. For the 300m, qualifiers included Heidi Storey, Isabella Hujber, and Shaunak Ukidwe. In the 600m, Christian Flanagan and Cole Tkacz qualified. Andrew Organ qualified for the 1000m, and Benjamin Farroni for the 1600m. Andrew Organ and Benjamin Farroni also qualified for the 3200m. In the 55m Hurdles, Arnav Ukidwe and Shannon Tallis qualified. For shot put, qualifiers included Lourdes Lawson, Lauren Lawson, and Jacob Gagnon. For high Jump, Olivia Mishtal, Hayli Graham, Lourdes Lawson, Roma Hubster, and Caden DeCesare qualified. For Pole Vault, qualifiers included Paige Keough, Peyton Libby, Benjamin Farroni, Javier Alan Colin Jr., Nicholas Zenzak, and Tyler Winn. Finally, in long jump, qualifiers included Hayli Graham, Heidi Storey, Isabella Hujber, Shannon Tallis, Peyton Libby, Paige Keough, Lourdes Lawson, Lauren Lawson, Owen Staunton, Caden DeCesare, and Jacob Gagnon.
After the meet, I had the opportunity to speak with Lauren Lawson, a freshman, about her experience at her first high school track meet. She said, “It was exciting.” Lauren also stated, “Most of it was what I expected because I did do track in middle school.” Lauren understood going into this meet “Mistakes happen to the best of us.” Having had that prior experience, she was not as shocked walking in and was happy to have a bit more experience in what she was doing. Lauren was a bit more anxious about the new events she was put in like hurdles and the nerves may have gotten to her a bit but overall her first experience was very positive. Lauren along with the rest of the team hopes to improve in many areas as the season goes on. The season continues as the team heads to New Haven for their NCCC Conference Championship for what will hopefully be another successful meet.
