On Friday, March 20, the Eagles traveled to the MSU field house to participate in a track meet. The MSU meet had certain standards before athletes could attend.
Athletes had to have a total of 8 practices during and after spring break which caused some issues. During spring break, many people took vacations out of state, which meant they wouldn’t be able to attend.
As a result, the track team used only one bus to the meet, with both boys and girls on it. Kaden Schaefer said, “It was very cramped and hot, and it didn’t help that the bus was also very small.”
Being hot and crampy was the least of the Eagles’ worries. When the coaches arrived at the meet, they were informed that athletes could wear their track shoes if their spikes were a certain length, because they didn’t want them ruining the fieldhouse.
Everyone complied and took off their spikes if they were too long for the requirement.
Fast forward: when everyone was warming up, the coaches informed the athletes that even wearing their spikes was not permitted this year, regardless of length.
This really took a toll on the athletes because “all sports are better with spikes, just because you get more traction,” said Josh Gordon. “The more traction you have, the faster you can run, and that translates to most events because the faster you run, the more power you have.”
Even though there were limitations to the Eagles’ showing what they were capable of, they still pushed forward and performed to the best of their capabilities.
