Boys track to focus on effort and consistency

As boys track prepares for 4A next year, a look at the 2024 state results give some idea of each school’s strengths. While none of our future opponents placed in the top eight of the 5A and 4A meets, some individuals did.

In the 5A meet Highland runners placed in the sprints hurdles, and relays, while East had one athlete who placed in the hurdles. In 4A Park City had two runners and one field athlete get on the podium. Jordan had two athletes, while Jordan and Murray didn’t have any athletes who made the top eight

Highland, Jordan, East, Cottonwood, and Murray are much bigger schools than Judge. Do more students translate directly to more talent?

One thing that sets great teams apart from good or worse teams is work ethic. Better teams usually have better work ethic.

“Usually it comes down to consistency and effort.”, said coach Chris Ring when asked about the difference in training styles. “How often do you show up and how hard you push yourself when you are at practice will play a major role in how successful an athlete is at track”. Ring says it is plain and simple, work ethic translates directly to success. To much work can result in a negative impact. To prevent burnout or injuries Ring has a few ways he keeps his athletes safe. “To prevent burnout I have cancelled mandatory Saturday and holiday practices.”

Ring goes on to explain that he still sends out workouts to be done and that the dedicated athletes will put in the work without coming to an actual team practice. A change as big as moving into a different division, especially a higher one, can bring some worries to some. Ring’s way of tackling these worries is simple.

“We will stress the same message we always do, you are racing the clock to be better than the old you.”

Don’t worry about the past, focus on what you can do NOW and strive to be better than you were yesterday. Now for the question I wondered the most; do bigger schools translate directly to more talent? Ring’s answer is a great one.

“A lot of times it does because they have a higher probability of finding faster kids,” he said. “It also depends on the culture of the team, work ethic, training facilities, opportunities they are given, and coaching staff.”

Several teams in soon-to-be 4A region 10 have been performing well, and the top programs to look for include East and Highland.