Lakeview Girls Track and Field Starts Out With a Bang

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Kylie Schwartz, reporter

The 2022 Track and Field season has officially begun. The Girls team has started off strong, placing in the recent invitational meets.

 On Friday, April 8th, Lakeview High School held their annual Relay meet, where schools from around the area competed in relay events. The Lakeview Girls team placed third overall, which was a big deal considering the size of the meet. The Girls pole vault relay team, consisting of Isabella Shuster, Lola English, and Caitlin Mark, also set a new school record with a combined jump of 22 feet. The meet featured unique races such as the distance medley, sprint medley, 4×1600 meter relay, and a new 4×100 meter relay. The distance medley consisted of an 800 meter run, a 400 meter run, a 1200 meter run, and finally a 1600 meter run. The relay team for this race nearly beat Lakeview High School’s record from a few years ago. The sprint medley was a much quicker race, consisting of a 100 meter sprint, 200 meter sprint, 300 meter sprint, and a 400 meter run. Before the start of this relay, one of the girls set to run was injured and unable to run. Freshman Jayln DeLeon stepped up to run the 400 meter leg of the race, almost directly after she ran the 4×800 meter relay. After also running the 1200 meter leg of the distance medley, DeLeon was very nervous.

She reveals, “I was terrified to run the 400 meter part of the sprint medley because I had not raced a 400 since middle school. My legs were already tired from the earlier races, and I did not want to let the team down. As the only freshman on the relay team, I felt additional pressure to do well.”

Since that race, DeLeon has been added to the 4×400 meter relay for the upcoming meets.

The final race of the night was a 4×100 meter relay, which consisted of only people that had thrown either shot put or discus earlier in the meet. The Lakeview girls’ team was made up of Kylie Schwartz, Sophia Palumbo, Teagan Peirce, and Jamie Black. 

Palumbo explains, “It was extremely cold by the time we were getting ready to run. Most of us had thrown hours before, so we just had to sit and wait in the freezing cold. I was very nervous to run, since as a thrower I normally do not run any events at meets. But, it was so fun to race against other throwers under the lights.”

The relay team finished third in the race. The Lakeview girls placed in nearly every event, which helped lead to the high place. 

With the season well underway, practices are becoming more enjoyable for many of the runners. 

DeLeon says, “Before meets began, the distance girls had to do hard workouts almost every day. It made us better runners, but I definitely enjoy the premeet runs we go on now.”

Track is one of the best sports Lakeview High School offers. From the freedom to try various events to the exhilarating meet days, it is a fun experience all around. 

Freshman Addy Briell exclaims, “I am very excited to try and get a personal best in my events! Track has been so fun this season and I have made so many new friends.”

The Lakeview Track teams have a local meet nearly every Tuesday, and run in large invitational meets as well. Make sure you come out to a meet to witness the fun!