Track and field is one of the oldest sport in the world. Consisting of running, jumping and throwing, athletes compete in different types of events from sprinting to long jump to shot put.

For the past month, the FC track team practiced every day after school to prepare for this season. They have their second meet March 10 at the CVC Invitation.

Head coach Michael Fuller will once again lead the team this season. Fuller has coached track and field on and off since 2012 as well as coaching the campus football team.

Last year the team was significantly small with only five boys and three girls. However, this year Fuller doubled his team size hoping to win the West Sequoia League championship.

“This year we have twice the number of athletes and they are all talented,” Fuller said. “I expect them all to perform very well individually and as a team. Our goals are to continuously improve our times and marks throughout the season and improve our team scores over last year. Several of the athletes have personal goals to set school records in their events.”

Returning sprinter Wes Hinton, ‘20, aims to beat his personal best in track and also hopes to compete for a championship.

“I have been doing track and field for two years now,” Hinton said. “I run the 100m, 200m and long jump. I also run the 4×100 with the relay team. My personal goal is to get personal records in all of my events and to shave three-tenths of a second off my 100 times. My team goal is to beat the other schools because this year we have a big enough track team to compete competitively with them.”

First-year runner Avery Jones, ‘20, joined to get into better shape for soccer.

“I haven’t done track and field since elementary school,” Jones said. “I joined track to get more in shape for soccer and some of my best friends are doing it so I thought it would be fun. I’m pretty sure I will be doing the long jump, high jump and shot put, but the season is still early so it could always change. My goal is to get in better condition for soccer and to help my team compete.”

Go out and support your track and field team as they look to win the league championship this year.

For more articles, check out Sibling Series: Alina, Makayla and Joseph Davila and Remembering Billy Graham.

John Monke can be reached via email and via Twitter.