Rosters are being lined up as high school spring sports start. With track and field being one of the biggest sports at Creek, 250 students tried out for the spring season, running to the finish line to see which team head coach Delisa McDavid would place them in.

After Creek alumni Riley Stewart (‘21) graduated as one of the best team runners, finding new team leaders has been difficult and tiring for coaches.

“Replacing her on the track is more difficult than replacing her as a leader,” McDavid said. 

Nerves and anticipation ran high as students prepared in their blocks waiting for the gun to go off. 

“Once you get in those blocks, and have your mind spaced out, you think about that gun going off and going as fast as you can,” freshman Janae Brown said. Brown is also a cheer member at Creek and is very happy with the community she has within both teams. “I would just say finishing the race is always what matters more.”

The community within Creek is a part of this huge sport. Keeping a sense of community and familial attachment is very important among the team, coaches, and during meets. Like Brown, a cheer member at Creek as well is very happy with the community she has within both teams.

“We all sit under the same tent [at meets] and kids are there all day,” McDavid said. “I would say that track is actually really unique because a lot of people consider it kind of an individual sport, but it’s actually very much a team sport.”

Team sport or not, running individual races adds a level of intensity and competitiveness not found in most sports. Athletes agree that it’s strenuous and emotions elevate when doing something you love. 

“It keeps my mind off of stuff especially when I’m stressed out, or I just feel like running for relaxation,” Brown said.

Escapism as a sport is very common with athletes who are having a bad day or need to alleviate their stress. The passion for a sport like Track and Field starts with a love for the sport, its team, and its coaches. 

“Always have a reliable mindset. Don’t push yourself towards something that will make your life [really] unbalanced,” Brown said.

What surrounds an athlete is what makes that athlete want to practice, play, and win. But keeping that passion for more than a few years in a row can be difficult for a runner’s state of mind when schoolwork, homework, and social life pile up.

 “It takes a very self-motivated athlete to be successful because it’s not as glamorous or real showy and so kids [hopefully] get motivated by just their constant competition with themselves trying to improve their marks from previous weeks,” McDavid said.