Regular season of women’s track comes to close

With the Cedar Falls track and field team’s last regular season meet on April 12, the season has come to a close for all those except varsity who will be advancing to state qualifiers. 

With a team of just under a hundred people, many, especially freshmen, only got a chance to participate in a couple of meets. 

Freshman Greta Huhn, who ran the open 100, 200 and the 4×4, ended her season by cutting seven seconds off her 200 personal best and 10 seconds off her 400 personal best, and freshman Gracie Smith, who participated in discus and shotput, noted that her strength and technique improved over the season. This is likely because of the focus on mind and bodily improvement implemented into every practice. 

Every day begins with our team checking in together for a team chat with updates, PRs and lineup announcements. Then we head out for our full team warm up. Depending on an athlete’s event group, it will differ for their workout,” said head coach Chris Wood, who has worked with the track and field team for six years. “At this point in our season we are in championship preparation. This means our workouts have shifted from quantity to quality, sharpening our minds and bodies to run our best in the next three weeks [for state qualifiers].”

The regular season was filled with ups and downs, with five of the 12 scheduled meets resulting in cancellation, meaning that athletes were given less of a chance to compete than in years past. “Unfortunately, our season was impacted largely by weather,” Wood said. “The athletes had to battle through cold weather, 50 mph wind gusts and long trips, but they have persevered and grown.”

Huhn, although her times improved drastically, plans to continue this growth over the summer. “I’ve got plans to train through the off season by lifting and running a mile each day.” 

Smith said her offseason training will be very similar, involving weight lifting every day. 

Both have plans to make varsity in future years, and Wood said setting goals like these are very important. “Reflecting on things that went well, things that you wished would have gone better and changes you want to make provides an opportunity to start setting goals for future seasons,” he said. “With that being said, our athletes have held the mentality to stay mentally strong while continuing to develop physically. When their opportunity arises they know to take advantage of it.”

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