“On your mark, get set; Go!” Just as this three command phrase is consistent within each and every practice, so is the success of the Albany Track Team. After school it’s not hard to hear the sounds of stomping and yelling as the Albany High School track runners sprint endlessly throughout the hallways. Although these runners run without a specific end, they all have specific goals that they would like to achieve before the season concludes. These goals range from: better fitness to, personal records, to a spot in the Section II Class AA meet, to a State Championship appearance at Cornell University, to an Eastern Championship appearance in New York City, to an Albany High School record-shattering time, to becoming an athlete everyone is talking about.

With all of these individual and team goals both intact, the Albany High School track program’s success comes from a combination of: heart, passion, drive, coach support, family support, school support, extended practices, academic achievement, dedication, and endless amounts of hard-work.

Albany High-school’s indoor track team went to sectionals at UAlbany on Sunday February 27th. During an interview with two of the track team’s athletes Natasia Brown and Blessing Uzoeshi the word that came up again and again was dedicated. The girls stressed that the team’s training and commitment is what helped the team get this far, quoting their coach Ricardo Smith “If you train hard, you win easy”, and it’s the training that helps. In preparation for sectionals the team began pushing themselves even harder and emphasized on practicing hand-offs. When asked if they were confident the girls replied that they felt good and that sectionals would have “all eyes on us.”

The team participated in the 4×200, the 55, and the 300-meter events. They won the 4×200, the event that seems to be the most acknowledged, breaking the school record that had been standing for all of a week. The 4×200 team consisted of Blessing Uzoeshi, Quimoni Chandler, Kiniqua Marable, Natasia Brown an alternates Tiara Gaines and Demonae Brown. Natasia Brown finished the 55m in second while setting a school record of 7.34 seconds. Prior to sectionals Blessing had accurately predicted that Brown could and would break the record.

The general feeling of the team was that they had worked hard and felt good about their achievements of the year. The only downside being that the track teams don’t really get a lot of support from the school which is really more football focused, and being overlooked despite their abilities and hard work. Despite the arguable lack of attention they were confident that their success would carry over into outdoor track saying “Indoor prepares you for outdoor.” and “We already know we’re gonna win outdoor.”

When we asked the girls for any final thoughts they just wanted to make sure to thank the track team, the coaches, Mr. Smith, their families and God.