The Hillcrest track and field team had its first meet at East High on March 16. The meet was scheduled for the week before (March 9) but got postponed due to the weather. The top athletes in each event had an additional invitational meet on March 19 in Herriman. 

“[Going to invitationals] was awesome!” said distance runner Kimiya Mavaddat. “It was really windy when we arrived, so that… slowed a lot of us down, but racing was still fun nonetheless. The meet itself had schools from all around Utah… and over 14 track events, so it was extremely long… but worth it. I had the opportunity to interact with so many new people, and being part of a team was… an awesome feeling.”

Another person who attended invitationals was thrower Adam Collins, who seconded Mavaddat’s statement on the weather. Collins then shared a little about what meets look like as a thrower instead of a runner. A thrower is someone who throws a heavy object (the object varies depending on the event) and gets scored on how far they threw the object.

“[The throwers] get called in flights to do our throws,” Collins started. “The guy who is running the event will call out who’s… up next… When you go up to throw, you get in your stance; just throw as much as you can – not much to it besides the technique. After that, you step off and do it two more times.”

At the recent invitational, all of the throwers “did about the same, throwing around 70-83 feet and got shot-put throwing 29-34 feet,” according to Collins.

One of the things that make track different from other sports is that there are essentially multiple smaller teams under the umbrella of the track and field team based on what event the athlete does. The most common events are distance runners, sprinters, and hurdlers, but there are more. Once in those larger groups, athletes still have different events to choose from. Their choice is typically based on distance. Specific event choices tend to vary based on the meet, but their overall event does not. 

“I’m a distance runner… so I did the 1600m at the first meet and an 800m at the Herriman invitationals,” Mavaddat explained.

The athletes all love being on the team because of the community it gives them.

“Everyone is so nice, and even though I don’t really talk to anyone, I feel like we are all pretty close as a team,” Mavaddat said. 

“I really like being on track,” Collins agreed. “They have an amazing environment, and the people there are extremely nice and welcoming. The coaches have helped me improve a lot this year, and I’ve found that track is one of my favorite sports.”