For throwing coach Mike Feliciani, a highlight of the boys and girls track team’s season is watching the team’s new athletes reach their goals.
“You see them when they’re younger and they show promise,” Feliciani said, “and you’re watching to see who’s going to keep progressing and then have that season where all of a sudden they have a breakout performance.”
To become a more competitive team in the league, the track and field team has set goals for coaches and athletes alike.
“Every girl has individual goals that they’re trying to meet and that I’m trying to help them with,” assistant girls coach David Klein said.
According to head coach Anthony Pace, the coaches also want to become more competitive as a team.
“Last year we had maybe eight or nine [runners in states]. I would love to see 20 [students] make districts this year, and I think it’s very possible,” Pace said.
According to Pace, the track and field team also has a lot of “top-heavy talent this year.”
To push the athletes, the coaches have set goals for the season.
“We have pretty lofty goals as a team to do well on the biggest stages,” Klein said.
As the athletes strive to reach their goals, whether jumpers, throwing or running, the coaches and other athletes create a motivational environment. “I am looking forward to the team bond and the atmosphere,” senior Destini Smith said.
Feliciani said that creating a schedule is important so athletes know what to expect in the upcoming weeks.
“By having it simple, [athletes] know when a hard day’s coming and then they know what to expect on the other days,” Feliciani said.
Klein also takes an interest in the new athletes who are joining the team.
“It’s so cool when you have a kid who is new to the sport when it starts to click, and things start getting put together for them. It’s exciting as a coach to see that happen in real-time,” Klein said.
Along with the goals and support of other athletes and coaches, the team also includes athletes who have won state championships and have done very well in other track and field events.
“We have a couple of really good hurdlers that broke through and made this district last year. I want to see if they could make states and we have a really strong 400 crew that probably could do some damage in the 400 and the four by four,” Pace said.
“They’re a really talented team all over,” Feliciani said. “We just had a dual meet against [Central Bucks] East, who’s probably one of the best teams in the conference, and the state and the sprinter swept the 100 and the 200. We took second and third and both the sprint events.”
During her track and field career, Smith has won multiple titles.
“[Destini won] the indoor state championship in the triple jump. She won the outdoor state championship last year in track and field. She broke the indoor PIAA record for triple jump,” Klein said.