Track and field is new to the RMA community this year. Coached by parent and long-time track coach, Brian Winham, this young team will go on to do great things in their almost three month long season. However, without a track, pit, and things necessary for different field events, it is exceptionally difficult for the practices to resemble real meets. With that in mind, the teams’ first meet on Tuesday, March 3^rd, was a whole new feeling to these talented athletes.

Most of the runners and field participants have never even run on a track or participated in a field event before. The meet held at Rocky Mount Senior High was very nerve-racking for the athletes. The day started with the field events with freshmen participants Thorne Pruden and Stephen Tucker. Thorne and Stephen both threw the discus and shot put. Thorne finished 16^th in discus and 27^th in shot put while Stephen, who is experienced in field events, finished 14^th in discus and 23^rd in shot put. Next was the jumping events that Briana Winham (junior), Jared McCall (junior), and Marcus Lerro (sophomore) participated in. Briana finished 6^th jumping 12-03.00 for the girls’ long jump. Jared and Marcus both did well in the triple jump, but their official scores are yet to be posted. The next event was the 1600m run that Caitlyn Vester (junior) ran in and finished fourth with a time of 6:02. Both Caitlyn and Briana competed in the girls 800m dash and finished 3^rd and 4^th respectively with times of 2:48 and 2:51. Freshmen Ansen Gong and Matthew Serraino ran in the boys 1600m and finished 33^rd and 34^th respectively with times of 6:33 and 6:40. Ansen and Matthew also ran the boys 800m. Ansen finished 24^th with a time of 2:53 and Matthew finished in 34^th place with a time of 3:06. Jack Wu (freshman) and Marcus Lerro both ran in the boys 400m. Marcus came in 26^th with a time of 1:01 and Jack ran a 1:11, finishing 35^th. Jared McCall ran in the boys 200m dash finishing 15^th with a time of 29:50.

With all these low times, this young team has a bright future as the state meet is still months away (May 20-21). However, athletes are also looking at doing different events such as hurdles and having relay teams in the future to compete in. Due to a lot of private schools not having track teams, most of the competitions are against public schools which provide a larger and more competitive competition. Wish the team luck as they compete in about 10 competitions this track season with the next one on Wednesday, March 16^th at Fike High School in Wilson!