26 SPORTS
RACE TO THE FINISH
Boys track and field begin season after loss of most of indoor season BY KEELEY BERNARD co-sports editor After missing a year of competition due to COVID-19, the boys track and field team is finally back to competing again. A year off can cause a bit of rust, but head coach Nicholas Bruno helped the team to a good start. “So far the season has been a great success,” Bruno said. “After losing a whole year of competition, it is a win for everyone on the team to be able to come back after a whole year off and have a season. We are off to a very good start, winning our first two meets and traveling to and winning the Marion Relay Invite.” Like Bruno, long distance coach Erik Forehand shares the same sentiments about the team’s season. “Our season is off to a great start as we entered the second week of competition 8-0. As with most teams, we haven’t come close to our potential as we continue to move guys around on lineups to compile up the most points we can in a meet,” Forehand said. Bruno believes that a big reason why the team has had such a good start to the season is because of their hard training and dedication. “The training schedule for each event is different,” Bruno said. “As a team, we practice four days a week plus we use Saturday’s as well if we do not have a meet. Each event coach has the workout and training plan ready to go each day, but if an athlete competes in multiple events, the coaches communicate and work together on a collaborative training plan.” Training has become especially important this season as the team tries to make up for the lost time due to the pandemic. Although this year the team can actually have a season, the season is still affected by COVID-19 and the rules and regulations due to it. “COVID-19 has changed our season in a few ways,” Bruno said. “We canceled all indoor meets besides one at Lake Central. At that meet, there were no spectators. Now that we are in the outdoor season, specta-
Sophomore Jacob Bell runs the second leg of 4x800m at a home track meet on April 6 against Michigan City and Munster. PHOTO BY EMILY HELMUTH
