by Marissa Harris ‘22

The indoor track team competed February 11 in an indoor meet for the first time at Hagerstown Community College for the regional finals. There were 18 boys teams and 15 girls teams participating throughout the region. Although many members of the Sherwood team did not do as well as they had hoped, they still set many personal bests. Senior Eli Rossini was the only member to qualify for states and competed in shot put at the Baltimore Armory where he finished ninth.

Not only did the indoor track team enter their winter season with new coach Matt Holonich, but they started off without knowledge of what the competitions were going to be like. Due to a large surge in Covid-19 Omicron cases this season, PG Sportsplex, where the athletes have competed in past years, was being used as a vaccination site. The teams were then left with competing in outdoor “polar bear meets.”

Teams were put in groups with other teams around the county and given a set location for the three meets to occur. Sherwood’s group had Springbrook, Paint Branch, Rockville, and Blake. The meets were held at Springbrook only if the weather permitted, and there ended up only being two polar bear meets. In the first meet, the team performed very well with a number of wins. Top performers on the girls side included junior Emily Zanni in the long-distance events and Katherine Kaneko in the jumping and sprinting events. On the boys side, the 4X800 was a strong competitor, with sophomore Dylan Simmons placing well in the sprinting events.

The indoor track team has always been smaller than the outdoor team, and this year especially did not have many people, making it harder to build relays. While this season was very different from past years, there were many positives and attained goals. The team has high hopes for the outdoor season, which will begin on March 1.