As Cross Country season comes to a close, roughly 180-200 students have now been switched into pre-season track. Here, these athletes participate in various exercises in order to hone in their skills before the highly participated season. To sum up the difficulties of their workouts senior, Grace Willming described it perfectly in three words: “It was exhausting!”

Led by Coach Fisher, Coach Moren, and others, Pitman Track and Field have high expectations for the upcoming season.

Luckily, the Pitman Roaring Times was fortunate enough to sit down with two former track superstars, Andrew Wang (11) and Eilbrone Poolis (11) as they provided a recap of the last season and their hopes for the upcoming one.

For those who may not know, myself included, Cross Country differs from track in that cross country focuses on running much longer distances and with a rather uneven terrain in addition to a much smaller terrain as both Wang and Poolis explained.

Last season alone, the JV boys had placed first in the Central California Conference, and as they are now Varsity, there is much to be expected.

Both Poolis, who partakes in long distances like 800 meter or 2 mile and Wang, who partakes in long jump or triple jump, state that on a scale of one to ten, they are “definitely at a ten” in terms of their excitement in returning to track. Mr Fisher commented on his love for track, stating, “It is an individual team sport. So much of what you do is based on your work. You can work on your strengths and isolate yourself.”

As first place champions, Pitman track is without a doubt walking with a big target on their backs in the upcoming season. As far as their toughest competition from last year, both Wang and Poolis believe it is Turlock High School. Poolis further explains, “They are cross town rivals and we are both at the top of the CCC.”

As far as their biggest improvement from the previous year, the two remained optimistic on all of their “young potential coming in” especially in Michael Moore. They are however hoping to increase their team bond over the season and focus on what Pollis states “less division.”

The team has winning CCC up high on their list of to-do’s but Wang and Poolis individually hope to continue with the PR’s and, in Wang’s case, stay injury free for the start (and remainder) of the season. Mr. Fisher believes their biggest improvement can come from simply “the student or athlete’s ability to run faster by moving their bodies correctly.” Leave it to Mr. Fisher to strive for the impossible.

With the start of the season coming in as soon as February, Pitman track continues to train rigorously in hopes of winning another CCC. We wish the track team the best of luck and be sure to catch them in action this February.