After many weeks of long and intense practices, Prairie had their first track and field meet of 2023 on Friday, March 17 at La Center high school at 4 pm.

For many of the returning athletes, especially seniors, this meet is important to see where they stand now, what they need to improve on, and if this one event or multiple ones feels right to continue on to for the rest or majority of the season. But for many of the new athletes, the first meet of the season can be a little intimidating, some reasons are “not doing my best because of people watching” and “messing up when people are watching” said a new athlete in the javelin. 

Many experienced athletes in track and field have had the exact feelings before too. But these feelings are common to have when trying out anything new, but learning to get more comfortable when competing makes the experience a whole lot better not just for you but your peers.

Coach Barton, the coach over the long-distance runners shares that he’s “excited to see all our athletes compete, especially when they have been working so hard this season”. Even in the off-season, many athletes weren’t taking a break but instead, they were training in the weeks, some even months following the start of the season. Barton also says that he wants the team to make “life-long memories along the way” with each other, “something that this team has always been good at, especially looking at the past few years,” this shows that track and field is not just about competing but making memories to happily look back on. 

This last year, the drive and willingness to put in the work made it possible for many of Prairie’s hard-working athletes to compete all the way to regionals. Just the dedication alone makes the whole track experience very enjoyable to be part of.

“I’m glad to be back in the track atmosphere, and to be socializing with my friends,” said Annie Anderson, who’s a senior. Annie last year made it all the way to regionals, getting into the top 15 in the 2 miles. She wants to “get an idea of where I stand performance-wise and what I need to work on and most importantly to have fun” for her last season. 

Just from a few people, we can see how important track and field is to Prairie, not just to the athletes but to the coaches as well. And now we can see that Prairie is ready to get the season started right.