Tallwood Lions’ indoor track season came to an end Saturday, March 16, 2024 with the Adidas’ Indoor Track Nationals for a select few. However, many other Lions concluded their indoor track season at states and regionals.
“I’m very proud of our student athletes. The indoor season was very fun. We had a lot of people improve their times and improve their marks in field events, which is always a goal of ours is to get better each and every day,” stated Zamel Johnson, Track and Field Coach at Tallwood High School.
The indoor track season for the school year began on December 9, 2023 with Tallwood’s first beach meet at the Virginia Beach Sports Center. Throughout the season, many Lions reached a new personal record and grew academically and athletically.
Landon Walker, Tallwood High School senior, was happy to share his point of view of the indoor track season after overcoming the bar at fourteen feet on Wednesday, January 31, 2024 during the last beach meet for Tallwood’s indoor track team. He later represented Tallwood at state championships.
“I think I performed really well for coming off an injury in outdoor, and my proudest achievement was winning states or tying the school record,” said Walker.
Emily Wagner, Tallwood High School senior, improved her mark in the indoor shot put event at the Virginia Beach Sports Center while also being a distance runner.
“I threw shot put, so I upped my PR [personal record] by three feet,” said Wagner.
Tallwood football player Jayden Burse joined the track team as a freshman but quickly found his place and continues to be a sprinter for Tallwood’s track team.
“I think we did pretty good as a whole track team during the season. There were a lot of PRs each meet and I was just super proud of the team,” stated Burse, Tallwood High School sophomore.
Although Jacob Rojas, Tallwood football player, joined the team just during the indoor track season, he shared that acclimated well into the team.
“This last semester I attended my first season of indoor track. Before that, I never previously ran track before; I’ve always only done football. I think I had an amazing season overall, both running and just meeting new people,” said Rojas, Tallwood High School junior.
While being one of the biggest sports teams at Tallwood High School, the indoor track team welcomes and uplifts newcomers.
“The indoor track season from 2023 to 2024 was an outstanding season to look at the performance of the kids that did the training from the beginning to the end,” said John Parker, Tallwood High School security guard and assistant coach.
The student athletes and coaches from Tallwood’s indoor track team had an overall positive reaction to the season. Nevertheless, there were parts of the season that the coaches and athletes will work towards moving onwards to outdoor track and the next school year.
“So the things that I thought we may have worked on a little bit more was some stretching, and so that is something we are implementing now in the outdoor season. That would really be the biggest change I would make,” stated Marcus Rinehardt, Tallwood High School counselor and assistant coach.
Learning from the indoor track season, Rinehardt has designated time for stretching after the warmups to limit injuries during workouts and events as the outdoor track season begins.
When asked what he would improve from the indoor track season, Joe Strangis, Track and Field Coach, mentioned that communication among coaches and student athletes could be improved going forward.
The overall indoor track team had an outstanding season that consisted of new personal records, greater sense of community, and roaring spirit. As the coaches and student athletes transition to the outdoor season, Tallwood High School can look forward to a successful outdoor season.
