On April 25, the Issaquah High School track team met at Newport High School for their fourth meet of the season. The students put forth great effort that was rewarded with remarkable success and an amazing performance, despite the cold, rainy weather and harsh conditions.
The meet began with the 4 x 200 meter relay, followed by the 100-meter hurdles, and the 100-meter dash. During the entirety of the meet the weather was bitter and unforgiving. According to Coach Mike Cobb, “We’re doing pretty well. You know, rain, and wind, and cold, we’ve been training all spring, so it’s kinda what we’re used to, and it’s dealing with adversity and hard situations, and that’s what makes Issaquah really good, because we do really well in that stuff.”
During the five heats of the 100-meter dash the girls performed with intense talent and exceptional effort. Their bright smiles, inspiring achievement, and persistent expertise were a huge wow-factor that shone through the gloomy weather. The whole field was very supportive, giving cheers of encouragement to each and every participator.
The 1600-meter run was tense, and seemingly quite exhausting. After four laps of extreme endeavor, Issaquah’s own senior Clara Tubbs placed second, while sophomore Sailor Storey placed third. Cobb says, “Again, dealing with adversity, resilient athletes, the starting gun stopped working, so our girl’s mile waited on the line for eleven minutes waiting for them to figure out how to start the race, and they eventually did start the race but after eleven minutes, all the girls were probably really cold and upset about it but they had a great time, they were smiling, they ran great races, and still put up PRs. All those things that we can be proud of within that race.”
Following the 1600-meter was the 400 x 100 relay, freshman Annebelle Paquette and junior Kamarrie Spencer both placed first in their heats.
Next was the 300-meter hurdles. Earning second in the first heat, freshman Ella Miller made extremely impressive leaps and practically floated her way to the finish line.
Regarding the strengths of the IHS track team, Cobb continues, “I would say resiliency. I think that they’re incredibly able to deal with pretty much anything we throw at them, and we practice that, in the way that we structure our workouts, we don’t tell them until like they walk into practice, so, a lot of the times they’re just kinda showing up, wondering what we’re doing, so I’d say resiliency, and I’d also say they have a really good way of like interpreting the way that their performance goes. So, whether they’re like Connor Rickey, who’s you know, out there running with some of the fastest kids in the nation, or you’re like shooting for a PR at your local KingCo race, it’s really just trying to figure out how can you improve and how can you be the best version of yourself at the end of the day.”
For those who are feeling disappointed in their times, Miller says, “Everyone has bad days, and there’s always room for improvement.” Freshman Whitney Neville continues, “Every day is different. All that matters is that you are running your own race. It doesn’t matter what anybody else is doing, just you.” Everyone can improve, and the key to improvement is practice. Neville says, “Practice a lot more and get good sleep.”
According to Miller, the IHS track team is strong because “we have a lot of fast distance people, and a lot of fast sprinters, and I think everyone just shows up and they try hard.” Neville comments, “I really like our coaches. They know what they’re doing, and they do it well.”
Athletes were proud of themselves, even if only for surviving a race or not tripping at the finish line. Neville says, “I’m proud of doing the 400 and not collapsing after.” Everyone has their own reasons for joining track. Miller says, “I like the people, I like the coaches, and I just love to run. Neville remarks, “I really love the community, and my family is really into running, I love running too.” When it comes to track, like many other things, you get out of it what you put into it.
Junior Hannah Mason says, “I saw a lack of people with signs for Issaquah, show up with some signs y’all.” And to all the track stars, remember the wise words of Coach Cobb: “Have fun, cause at the end of the day, if we’re not having fun, why are we doing it?” Remember to show your support to our Eagles and come to their next meet on May 2.
