The Westside girls track team recently competed in the metro track meet and showed their dominance as a team. With a strong third place finish, the Warriors had multiple athletes place in the top ten for their events. The Warriors have been strong competitors throughout the entire season and the Metro meet helped them focus on both strengths and weaknesses of the team. Head Coach Andante Lloyd reflected on the team performance at the meet.
“The girls’ team performance at Metros gave us a good idea that our team hitting on all cylinders can compete with some of the best teams. At the same time it also showed that we have areas where we can improve and be better,” Coach Lloyd said. “Overall I think the conference gave the ladies a shot to compete in a bit more competitive track meet that featured prelims and finals for the first time this season for several events.”
This year, the Warriors introduced lots of new athletes to the team. The seniors have had a very high impact but it is also clear to see that the younger athletes have had a huge impact as well. With all the talent they bring, the Warriors will remain to be a dominant team for the next few years. Coach Lloyd shared his thoughts on having a young team.
“I feel really good looking at our girls team with so many athletes returning next year. Looking at some of the gains we have made this year our girls will likely be very strong in some areas like sprints, jumps, distance, pole vault, and hurdles,” Coach Lloyd said. “We will look to replace 3 seniors in the triple jump and really hope to get some momentum in the throws. We are losing some very valuable seniors in the field events, distance and pole vault.”
Among those young athletes is sophomore Annika Jasinski. She has been showing her strengths in multiple events like sprints, relays, jumps, and hurdles. She earned a season best at Metros for the long jump and is quite excited about it but also knows that there is still room for improvement. She hopes to show that she can do even better by gaining a personal best at state. Being younger on a varsity team comes with lots of challenges and overcoming those obstacles can be a challenge within itself. Jasinski talked about what she has done to help herself adjust to being on varsity this season.
“Probably the biggest challenge of being an under classmate in the varsity team is just having less experience, but I know every single meet that I do I will get better and better and I’m able to program my mind so that I can have the best performance.”
Another impactful lowerclassmen has been freshman Amira Johnson. She has had impressive performances in all of her events throughout the entire season and will keep that momentum going into state. Seeing someone so young compete extremely well at such a high level is very inspiring. Johnson explained what this Wetside track season has meant for her.
“This season has helped me push myself early in the season. Since I do summer track it’s helping me hit my fastest times early and the only way to go is forward now,” Johnson said.
There is no doubt that these girls will keep leading the team the next few years of their high school career. At this point in the season, all focus has turned to the State meet and preparing for that. The team had another dominant performance at Districts and secured their spot to compete at Burke. Competing at the State meet is not an easy task and should not be taken lightly. Coach Lloyd discussed what the team goals are as we near the end of the season.
“We are hoping to see the team really hitting peak form by the end of the season. Conference meet gave glimpses and also allowed the coaching staff to see areas where we would need to be at or beyond our best performances to achieve a top 5 type of result,” Coach Lloyd said. “We will spend the last few weeks of the season focused on lightening the volume and really push for quality in our performances as we head towards the State Track meet.”
The season may be coming to an end but it is not done yet. The Warriors are ready to give it their all and prove that they are the best in the state of Nebraska. The finish line is in sight and there will be no stopping until everyone knows what the Warriors are capable of.
Catch the Warriors out on the track at Burke Stadium for the State meet on May 20 and May 21.
