by Emily Hollis

It’s that time again, when grass turns greener, trees sprout buds, birds start chirping and the sound of spiked track shoes dig into freshly-painted track fields.

Ah yes, ‘tis the season for outdoor track and field.

“We just started the outdoor season,” said junior Zach Ripley, who competes in the middle distance and steeplechase events. “As far as the guys are concerned, from here on out every meet has different goals. We’re trying to qualify; as far as the sprinters are concerned, [it’s] fine-tuning their events.”

Ripley also said the team is focused on a wider range of events, as opposed to last year.

“We have one guy focusing strictly on the marathon coming up,” he said. “We only run a couple times a week. And there’s a couple other people that are specialized, too.”

Head coach Rod Wortley said the women’s team has a difference in its level of focus, as well.

“Last year we had a mature, focused team,” Wortley said. “This year’s juniors and seniors keep us at that level of expectation and intensity.”

“These athletes know what they want, and they know what it takes to get it,” he said. “Last year, there was a lot of emotion and working through the grief of losing Kendra [Ross], and the effort of being there with Katey [Kingsbury] through her recovery.”

“But the team has had time enough to move on,” he said.

Wortley also said, “Those things still affect us to some extent every day or every week, but life has returned to normal and time continues to heal the hurt.”

Since outdoor track is only a few weeks after indoor track during the winter, sophomore Amy Boyer said the women’s team has “trained all year. Outdoors is kind of the accumulation of things.”

The weeks off between the two can be a good thing. Just ask sophomore Becky Boblett.

“It’s good to not run in the snow, that’s what we had to do last year,” Boblett said. “It’s great to have a break, because it gave us a chance to train hard so we’re ready for conference, so that was a benefit, I think.”

“It gives people from nationals the time off they needed to recuperate,” Boblett said.

Boyer, who does the pole-vault event, said this season hasn’t been too different since the team is “really big on tradition; not a lot changes. There are quite a few freshmen, one or two freshman girls, and several freshman boys who do quite well.”

Both Boyer and Boblett said they have felt a change in the relationship with their coaches.

“The coaches really strive to be the best coach to each athlete,” Boblett said. “They adapt to our learning styles … I noticed that more this year than last year. Some of the comments they make, they’re not necessarily about track, but about life too. They try to be an example.”

“Everybody learns differently and needs different things from the teacher,” Boyer said. “I need confidence from him, and I feel he has done a better job at that … I don’t know about other people, but he’s made a difference for me in that way.”

Wortley said the goal for him personally this season is to be a good example of servant leadership not only to his athletes, but also to the assistant coaches.

“I’m sure it sounds cliché,” he said. “But if I can do those two things well, the athletic side of things falls into place.”

“Ultimately, what goes on here is about what the program can do and that isn’t about me; it’s about the athletes,” he said. “If I can help them reach their goals and send them off with some life skills, I think that’s where the focus should be.”