As girls track plunges into the heart of their competition season, the meets become bigger both in intensity and difficulty. The McHenry County Meet, which is one of the biggest competitions of the year, took place on Thursday and Friday, April 19-20. 32 different schools from all over McHenry County attended, and both girls and boys track participated.
Overall, Huntley High School placed third behind only Cary Grove and Crystal Lake Central. They were expecting to place much higher, however bias and external problems led the team to lose a few extra points.
First, the 4 by 800-meter-relay team was disqualified because a runner was accused of stepping on the grass, costing the team an average of 8 points. Next, a malfunction with the timer during the hurdles race lead the panel of coaches to decide not to have the Huntley girls run the race again, costing Huntley more points.
“It was just disappointing,” said Tina Driscoll, a sophomore on varsity. “We really did not get the amount of points we should have.”
The rain and cold temperatures played a large part in the dynamic of the meet as well, and sometimes this weather causes girls’ nerves to kick in. A lot of time girls do not run as well in the cold, but most of the team was able to persevere and perform well, even in the harsh elements.
“My job is to go out there and get my athletes ready to do what they need to do,” said Sarah Kutcha, Assistant Varsity Coach. “If they need to get excited, I will help pump them up, and if they need to just be calmed down, I can do that too, but the main goal is to keep them warm and ready to go.”
The McHenry County Meet is not like an ordinary meet. It is very big, and very competitive. The girls Huntley track team is still extremely young, and has a lack of experience. However, this leaves them with room for improvement and goals to set.
“Our overall goal is to beat Cary Grove at some point,” said Driscoll. “And that will be possible soon, because most of their best runners will be graduating this year, while our team still has years ahead of us to grow.”
The team responds very well to the competition aspect. On top of the skill that they have, many of the runners are able to channel whatever their emotions are, whether it is excitement or anger, into their performance.
“We told the girls all week that this was going to be a very big meet,” said Kuchta. “There are teams out there that are even jealous of our second and third places. No matter where you go, there will always be competition, but we have a very deep team with a ton of potential to do well”
