By Mason Haynes

The 2017 track season is in motion for the spring and many opportunities are available for both the boys and girls Greenbrier East High School track teams.

Jim McCutcheon is the coach of the boys track team and he has high hopes for the start of a strong competitive season.

“We establish goals at the beginning of every year,” McCutcheon said. “We try to compete at the regional level then try for the states.

McCutcheon also explains his plans for success since regionals is key to keeping a strong track season with the boys track team.

“Our biggest accomplishment has been regionals,” McCutcheon said. “ I have been here for seven years and when I came here we have not won a regional in 20 years (and) we managed to win two since then.”

Strong physical development is one of the strongest traits McCutcheon values while working with his team. He also explains his reasoning for training the boys track team differently to achieve success.

“We spend a lot of time not running but instead we focus on dynamics and statics and really getting the legs and the core in good shape,” McCutcheon said. “We use band work and we use a lot of resistance type training and we don’t lift a lot because the goal is to reduce injury”.

The girls track team also has their own plans for the upcoming track season. Sherri Adwell is the head coach for the girls track team and Kim Sexton is the assistant coach.

Sexton said their goals for shooting high are strong and that teamwork is a strong trait that is also used with the girls track team.

“I think they have a lot of potential this year,” Sexton said. “Our seniors are good mentors for the freshmen, and it goes a long way because the girls are not afraid to ask the other senior girls for help when it comes to hurdling.”

The girls also train slightly differently from the boys even though their events are the same. Sexton emphasizes the importance of ability groups to develop team improvement.

“When we first come out to practice we have our warm-up drills,” Sexton said. “We run two laps to warm up the muscles and get the heart going, and then we have our stretches along with dynamics. We also break off into our groups of hurdlers, sprinters, distance, and mid-distance and train from there.”

Both the Greenbrier East boys and girls track teams have a long road ahead of them as they uphold their hearts heading into the 2017 spring season.