The Niles West track season is back in full swing after being off the track for a couple of months. Although the team had contact days in the fall and beginning of the year, their season officially started this April with their first meet taking place on April 23rd at Glenbard East.

Although it’s been a while since the whole team has practiced together, the biggest challenge faced was waiting. “I don’t think we faced any big challenges cause track is an individual sport and you don’t really need equipment. The only hard part was having to wait so long to start our season,” junior Emily Kim said.

The team has been practicing every day except for Sundays and sometimes Saturdays. Their third meet of the season hosted by Glenbrook North was against all of the conference schools in the area, which is very important. Most of the time parents can come and cheer on their kids but it all depends on the schools and their rules. This year the team only had one home meet, which was disappointing, but the girls were still thankful to even have a season. The team has five meets left.

Four captains have been announced for each position. Humaira Iffath is captain of sprints, Lily Carey is distance, Alexis Mazzenga for jumps, and Sheril Chacko for throws.

The team has been improving and doing great so far, adjusting well with the season given. “We could use some improvement because we are all still a little rusty from quarantine,” senior Jazmine Frausto said. Frausto does sprints and she’s excited to keep working hard and seeing improvements in her times.

“We’ve definitely been competitive with the other teams in our conference, there have been really close races every meet,” Carey said.

Carey is the captain of distance. She runs the 4 by 800 relay, 1600m, and the 4 by 400 relay and she’s seen progress. She has been hitting similar times to last year, which is impressive considering how the season has been unlike no other.

Everyone on the team has been putting in work every day at practice and is hopeful for the next meets to come. All of the girls are excited for their next meet which is away at Deerfield on Wednesday, May 12th at 4:30 pm.