Sprinting Towards Success

By Becca Griffin

   The girls track team is looking forward to a promising season with strong athletes and a few promising new runners. Assistant coach Chris Foxen, also the U.S. history teacher for the high school, says last year’s season went very well with qualifiers in the 4X800, the open 800, and shot-put, and he predicts this season will be just as good. Foxen has been coaching for ten years and he looks forward to this season, “my favorite thing about coaching is seeing the look on an athlete’s face, that expression of joy and happiness at achieving what they have worked for.”
   Practices for track are forty five minutes to an hour long. Hallie Goss, sophomore, says, “Some days we have super easy practices if we have a meet the next day. Some days we have super hard practices if we don’t have a meet for a couple of days.” Goss agrees that this year will be a good one with the new freshmen this year.
   Freshman Sam Kistler is among them. Megan Shoppa, a junior, says that Kistler is her toughest competition, “She’s a beast.” Kistler is new to the team, but has already proved herself. She runs every day and says her toughest competition is a girl from Bettendorf, which is no surprise since Bettendorf seems to be the toughest competition in years past as well.
   The team and coaches predict a potentially successful year to come. Foxen believes that it will be just as successful, if not more, than last year as long as there is hard work throughout the season, “Coaches can only offer opportunity in an atmosphere of hard work. The athlete has to want to succeed and achieve in order for there to be victory.”

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