I don’t know how ACP’s Track and Field team does it. Not only do they have early morning practices, but we live in Arizona, and around this time of year, it’s at least 100° outside! Our Track and Field team recently had multiple state qualifiers, along with some state champions.

Seamus McCarthy, current junior, explained how this was his first year competing with track and field, and that he races in four events: triple jump, javelin throw, 110 meter hurdles, and 300 meter hurdles. He continued by saying he went to state for all four of his events and placed 4th in the javelin throw, 6th in the triple jump, 9th in the 110 meter hurdles, and 10th in the 300 meter hurdles. Seamus then explained what an average meet is like, “A meet is very nerve racking… you have to muster up all the confidence you have in order to not stress yourself out.” He then stated how long it can feel while waiting for your event. Now, this may not seem intimidating, but to qualify for state, one must compete and place within the top 20 spot. I don’t know about you, but I find that very stressful. Toward the end of the interview, when asked what advice he would give to future team members, he said push yourself, “The only way to grow as a person physically and mentally is to push yourself past what you’re comfortable with.”

Seamus wasn’t the only state qualifier; Mackenzie Hanson (pictured left), current junior, qualified for state in four events: 2oo meter sprint, 400 meter sprint, 4×400 relay, and the triple jump. As an experienced runner, Mackenzie offered lots of great advice during her interview. For one thing, she stressed the importance of showing up to practice on time, or else “you WILL be doing zombie crawls”. She then explained the state meet by exclaiming, “the team usually shacks up in an iconic ACP tent” and waits in anticipation for their event to start. Mckenzie ended her energetic interview with some great advice to ACP’s future athletes, “The mornings are hard, the practices are rigorous and testing. The coaches are going to push you. You will probably even throw up quite a bit, but the end results are SO rewarding.”

As a team, Track and Field had about 15 people qualify, including students from first year members to fourth year members. Our Track and Field team did outstanding, so make sure to congratulate them on a job well done!