Some may consider the winter sports season here at Poly as already in progress, and although this may be the case for some sports, for the Indoor Track team, the game has just begun. 

Yeah, that was my shot at a suspenseful and dramatic start to this article. As you can tell, writing is definitely my forte. Enough about that fail though, here’s the cringy introduction. I’m Maelle Girard-Tsuru, this site’s lead photographer and a club/activity correspondent for the girls’ indoor track team. 

Running: so many people hate it, yet so many people do it. 

After five meets and one invitational, the girls’ indoor track team was only testing the waters of this season’s new challenges and aspects of the team. Led by Latoya Johnson, its coach for the past ten years, the team continues on to this 2022-2023 indoor track season

However, many challenges arise along the way. Coach Johnson even states; “The dedication is thinning out” when asked how different this year’s team is from previous years. So far, the team’s performance has not been at its best. Some of the coaches from competing schools have even started to rule out Poly as a possible winner of this year’s championship; considering that they’d have a higher chance of winning this year.  The City Championship is just around the corner. Will we change the narrative of this year’s season? 

In spite of the doubts, skill is still shown in this year’s girls’ indoor track team. Captain Jamaya Mcdowell, also the leading shot putter, has recently broken the school’s record of a 34’ with a striking 37’ mark. Lillian Adams, in distance, has also recently tremendously PR’d as well in the 1600 meter with a time of 6:29.53. Additionally in long distance, Margaret Paulk also advanced in this progress with a PR in the 3200 meter of 15:05.64. Many other small wins have also been helping the team move along and stay on top of things despite the challenges this season. Running is so much more than physical prowess. There’s the mental part too. Will putting our mind to it be enough to achieve last year’s victory once again?

Roster

Key: 

LD-Long Distance

H-Hurdles

HJ-High Jump

S-Sprint

MD-Mid-Distance

SP-Shot Put

Lillian Adams LD

Laila Allsberry LD

De’Asia Bradley H

Mikayla Brown H/HJ/S

Comfort Juanita Butler-Freeman SP

Sarah Dunkley SP

Jhamari England S

Maelle Girard-Tsuru MD/LD

Leah Harrison H/S

Steysi Imbert-Sandoval MD/LD

Kaila Jenkins H

Azariah Jones HJ/S/SP

Timya Martinez-Cleary S

Jamaya Mcdowell SP

Kei Leigh Mese-Jones LD

Miya Mese-Jones S/MD

Margaret Paulk LD

Wryen Pender H/HJ

Asiane Phillips MD/LD

Zemirah Santiago S

Ta’nyia Sigler S

Damia Todd S

Jada Turner S

Trinity Woodley S

Samiatu Yussuf S/MD

Managers:

Taleah Payne

Ayanna Thompson

Jaidy Amador