Spring Track Debuts at Sanford

Spring 2023 marks the beginning of Sanford School’s most recent sport, Spring Track. After spending the winter season working to make the season possible, Head Coach and Sanford alum Gavin Gibson is ready to begin the season with excitement to produce a solid first season.

“It’s honestly just about feeling it out and seeing what it looks like at Sanford. This is obviously very new for Sanford, and getting those fundamental pieces of training and racing is the main goal of the season.”

Due to the lack of a track at Sanford, Coach Gibson has had a hard time finding a place for the team to get quality practice time in. It was never an issue for the cross country team, as Sanford presents space for distance running training. For Winter Track, Coach Gibson was able to practice at the track located at the Thomas Mckean High School because of the school’s not having a winter track team. The school does have a spring track team, making the track unavailable, and making Coach Gibson search for another place for the team to practice.

“I’ve been in contact with Ursuline, we’ve been using their Servium Field. I’m getting into contact with Independence, They’ve got a gravel loop. We might go off campus to parks. That’s one of the pieces, a challenge and a goal for the season.”

Many new students have joined the returning runners from either cross country or winter track. Most of the new runners are doing it because it’s the first time the sport was available due to conflicting sports. Other new runners see the sport as a way of getting in shape for other sports seasons the athletes compete in. Sophomore Tegan Covaks expressed his excitement and change of mind toward the upcoming season.

“When I first started, I was more excited to be in shape for other sports,” Covaks said, “ the more I run for Stanford, the more I look forward to running competitively in races.”

At Sanford, places such as the mezzanine located in the school’s Sports Center offer space for the team to practice on days with inclement weather due to the treadmills and other cardio equipment located at that space. Coach Gibson is worried about intruding on other established teams’ space when it comes to finding practice room, especially in places such as the mezzanine where other teams need the space as well.

“I want to find our place and fit wherever we can. The mezzanine for example, is perfect for a rainy day, but other sports need to come inside, and how do we balance that? We need the mezzanine for treadmills, but I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes,” mentioned head coach Gibson.

With the team competing at nine meets this season, Coach Gibson is excited to see the experienced runners help guide the new faces throughout the season at practices and meets.

“We need new leaders to emerge to start the program, and start on a good note, and to hopefully continue on.”