Track athletes and coaches working hard on new season

The 2023 Track & Field season started on March 6, and the athletes practice every week day after school. All coaches and students are excited for the season to begin. 
For the first month of the season athletes will participate  in indoor meets, and the first indoor track meet is on March 15.  “Indoor meets are all about getting experience racing.  Times and distances are not as good for several reasons – tracks are smaller and have sharper turns, most tracks do not allow spikes, and athletes are not in great shape,” Head Coach Corey Binnebose said.  “Indoor is a blessing because of Wisconsin weather.  Outdoor meets start after April 10.”

Some athletes have already been training for this season by joining club teams during the off season.  Running on a club team helps them prepare for the real season by having practices weekly and running indoor meets.  Many students from GHS have joined the team called “MKE Speed Academy.” 

They recently concluded their final practice of their winter season in March.  “It’s an aau/club track team and they improve your speed, endurance, and jumping abilities throughout the season. They helped me prepare for the season by going to multiple indoor track meets throughout the winter and having practice  throughout the week so I was constantly getting better,” Javon Murry said. 

 Binnebose has been preparing students for the upcoming season by opening the track and sending out workouts that they can do on their own.  “It is hard to prepare the Track & Field athletes.  The WIAA has rules against most contact during the school year.  My favorite saying is  ‘I want you here if you want to be here.’   If athletes understand that, then they will take my advice with the training,”  Binnobose said.  “I have a Google Classroom with training ideas posted and I talk to runners during the course of the day.  The distance runners are a different type of athlete and are easy to get running.  Sprinters/hurdlers/jumpers are a little more hands-on which makes it hard.” 

  Seniors Javon Murry and Izaiah Correa both were state qualifiers last season and they will be back at it again with their final season this year. “I went into my junior season with a goal that I wouldn’t lose a hurdle race throughout the whole season and that I would also make it to state. When I achieved both of those I felt really good since I accomplished everything I wanted to and all the work paid off,” Correa said. “This year I was on a club track team in the offseason and that definitely made me faster for hurdles. I’m also trying to take care of my body a lot more so that I stay healthy throughout the season and at state.”

 Binnebose has high hopes for the team this season, “We currently have two boys who went to State last season – Izaiah earned a 5th place medal 110 Hurdles and Javon was 7th in the 200 dash, just missing a medal by a couple of hundreds of a second,” Binnebose said. “We have three boys who went to State in Cross Country last fall and now want State Track experience.  And our Girls Cross Country team went to State last fall also.  We have really good athletes – and with T&F we need the numbers to accomplish team success.”

On the girls side, none of the girls made it to state last year but this season they are hoping to send some athletes such as seniors Sophia Thiel in the 300 hurdles, Mady Muehr in the 1600m run and a relay or two, and junior Grace Uremovich in the 100 hurdles.  “I did great last year until I got Covid right before sectionals. This year, I am hoping to be better than last year and not get sick.  I did join cross country to stay in shape and get faster,” Thiel said.