It’s a historic season for MRHS Spring track, with athletes across all disciplines approaching longstanding school records, and seemingly all at once. However, it’s important to consider how this momentum came to be, and how it can be preserved across the next several seasons to make MRHS a truly competitive organization for years to come. Howard County still lies in the shadow of the dominant Oakland MIlls program, which for years has boasted far and away the most competitive running talent in short distances.
The most important factor in the success of Oakland mills track has been the widespread positive regard the school holds for track across all sports disciplines. For football athletes, track is a chance to improve in top speed and athletic talent for the next year, and for soccer athletes a chance to maintain fitness for the coming fall season. This mentality does not necessarily carry over to Marriotts Ridge, in which the vast athletic talent considers track as too big of a commitment to take on whilst involved in other sports.
Ryan Li, a graduating senior, describes his experience considering track and field
“I’m a swimmer, and I’ve considered track and field before to train and get faster in the offseason, but I’ve never felt like I’d have the time to do both.“
Contrary to this is the increasingly large group of athletes advocating for the highly customisable nature of the sport, particularly in the ability to select events across different disciplines or distances. With different events offering unique and interesting challenges tailored to each individual, those who are strong, tall and lean may be well tailored to the 400m based on their body type, but would never be limited to a singular event as their unique attributes help offer different advantages in different phases of each sprint or long distance event.
Liam Hennigan, a junior at Marriotts Ridge and competitive mid distance sprinter shares his experiences as a multisport athlete
“For a long time I played soccer, but my freshman year at MRHS I decided to try out track, and I’ve been able to balance that with playing football in the past. I believe track and field has such a high level of versatility that nearly anyone can find something that they’ll enjoy in the sport, all it takes is dedication and time spent developing athleticism. At the end of the day it’s a competition with yourself,” Hennigan explains.
Dedication to multiple sports is certainly not easy however, with students across the board struggling to juggle their hectic schedules between academics, extracurricular activities and personal lives. It can be easily understandable why student athletes are selective with their time and tailor themselves to one sport, yet resoundingly students that participate in track and field note significant increases in their capabilities across all athletic events. Bredon Payne, a junior at MRHS and football player notes that he “absolutely became stronger and more coordinated” through his efforts in throwing discus and shotput, demonstrating further the positive testimony of athletes that participate in track.
