As junior Eve Sharp crosses the finish line with the competition far behind, she takes the win in the girls 400-meter race. In the first meet of the spring track season on March 11, the Lions took on the Melvin J. Berman Cougars. The Lions won in the boys’ high school, boys’ middle school and girls’ high school events. The Cougars won in the girls’ middle school events.
Freshman Ryder Chesman, who ran the 1,600-meter and 800-meter events in the meet, expressed his appreciation for his teammates’ support, acknowledged how close-knit the team is and explained that closeness is key to having the team support each other.
“This is the first meet of the season, it’s always a good starting point, so it’s only up from here,” Chesman said. “I think we’re all very supportive, we’re gonna support each other throughout the rest of the season.”
The middle school and high school track teams have joint practices, and according to Chesman, these inspire him to motivate himself this season, as he takes pride in being a role model for the younger kids and looks up towards the upperclassmen. Sharp views herself and her fellow upperclassmen as role models for younger runners to push themselves to improve.
At this meet, Sharp ran the girls 400-meter and 800-meter races. Sharp was treating this meet as an evaluation of her abilities and she felt proud of her performance.
“Track is a sport that it’s really what you make of it,” Sharp said. “So if you don’t want to work hard, you don’t have to, but it’s really important, I think, to give it all you got in every workout, in every race.”
In preparation for meets, Sharp has a specific routine she follows to ensure she can perform to the best of her abilities at her upcoming events.
“I try and do a meditation the night before, just because I think the hardest thing is going to sleep the night before the race, because you’re just so full of nerves,” Sharp said. “I really work on–throughout the day before and the day of the race–keeping my head in a calm place and not using up all my adrenaline before I get on the line.”
Assistant coach Jason Belinkie, has been working with JDS running teams for 20 years. Belinkie focuses on the preparation before races, both mentally and physically.
Belinkie expressed his role in giving runners motivation. He uses his own experiences to help relate to the runners and connect further with them.
“The biggest inspiration that I try to tell them, as someone who’s been running for 30 years, is that running is hard, and you just have to embrace when you come into this sport, that every time you come into the track, it’s always going to be hard, and it never gets easier, but it’s always worth it,” Belinkie said.
Belinkie was extremely proud of the runners on race day. He felt as though the meet was a positive experience for everyone. He looks forward to seeing the team’s community grow over the season.
“My goal for the team this year is the same as every other year, which is that we just want everybody to have big goals and to be committed to being on the team, to come every day with the right mindset and always trying to find ways to uplift each other.” Belinkie said, “If we can be doing those things, we’ve accomplished our goal as coaches.”
