Central’s Track and Field Season Races to a Start

Track season for the boys’ and girls’ teams at Champaign Central High School officially started on January 17, 2023. Pre-season training has been available since November, but with the start of official practices comes more excitement about the following season. The teams are full of Freshmen to Seniors, all with goals and anticipation for what’s to come in the next few months. 

The track team consists of multiple teams with respective events, coaches, and training. The long-distance coach for the girls’ team is Guthrie Hood and the coach of the boy’s team is Steven Kesler. The sprints coach for the girls’ team is Dominique Lewis and the sprints coach for the boys’ team is Argie Johnson. The track team also consists of field events, with Caleb Ball coaching jumps and Ranija Turner coaching throws. Guthrie Hood is the head coach of the girls’ teams and Argie Johnson is the head coach of the boys’ teams. 

New features of Central’s track season this year include new coaches; Dominique Lewis, a Centennial alum who competed at Wisconsin, and Ranija Turner, a Central alum and Indoor School Record holder in the shot put. There have also been new additions to training. “We’ve added a rollout runway to our training tools which has elevated the intensity of our indoor training, particularly for the sprints and jumps athletes”, says Hood. 

Coaches and athletes are also excited about the new participants in track this year. Avery Smith, a senior distance runner, is excited about the new number of athletes. “We have almost double the team size than last year because of sprinters coming out that do other sports, along with a much bigger Freshmen class.” Hood says, “We are starting out the season with about ten more athletes than we had at the start of the season last year. We’ve already seen a great deal of internal leadership and support among the athletes on the team and that dynamic is really exciting to see.” 

Not only is there excitement because of promising athletes and coaches, but high goals have been set for the team’s performance, especially because of the success of last season. Smith says, “The results of last year’s season heavily shape the goals of this year for the boy’s distance team because our 4×800-meter relay missed out on qualifying for state by less than 3 seconds with a young relay. So, we’re planning one being able to do a bit more than just qualify for state in that event.” Garrett McNeilly, a sprinter, says, “I’m looking forward to beating Urbana and Centennial, taking multiple events to state, and making it to finals, which I expect we can do because we made it with our 4×400-meter relay last year.” 

Hood is cautious about setting “performance-related expectations” because of the earliness of the season. He says, “We don’t know what other teams will have in terms of returning or new athletes”. However, Hood adds, “I think we are in a great position to have a strong performance at the Big 12 Championship and as long as we stay healthy I think we have a high likelihood to improve upon our State experience from last year.” He says, “Having one of our largest groups attending the State Meet last year set the bar for expectations this year.”

The track team is looking forward to showing off their hard work while hosting five home meets at McKinley Field, including the Big 12 Championships on May 5th. Be sure to watch the Maroon’s Track and Field team over the next few months, as they are certain to have a promising season.