Track

Ready… Set… Graduate?

By Kenzi Perkins, on Tuesday Apr. 22

On your marks… Get set…Graduate? Our track and field seniors are used to hearing the officials call them to their marks, but are they ready for their last year of track at Sheridan High School? Tonight, Apr. 22, the girls’ and boys’ track teams had a meet at home against New Lexington and West Muskingum, before which their Senior Night took place. 

Halfway through field events, this year’s seniors lined up on the hundred meter start line, took the arms of their parents, and walked through the finish line, symbolic of their finish of high school track. The 2025 track and field seniors include Maddie Bilka, Nora Covey, Kenzi Perkins, Beckett Strong, Hunter Adams, Caleb Oehrtman, Tate Ruthers, and Henry Taylor. As they walked, Lance Dupler announced each athlete’s name and their future plans for after they graduate.

Each of these seniors have faced the pressure of competition during track meets, whether it’s been lining up for a race, getting ready to throw, or warming up to jump. All of them have handled the intensity incredibly, and we know that they will approach the rest of their lives with the same determination, dedication and enthusiasm that they have during their track meets.

To the 2025 track and field senior athletes: good luck on the remainder of your season, and good luck after graduation!

Track's Pre-Season: Outlasting the Winter

By Kenzi Perkins, on Monday Jan. 13

Though the frigid conditions of December and January forbid the Sheridan track and field athletes from practicing outside on the track with their icy winds and unforgiving chill, many of the high schoolers still find a way to prepare themselves for the spring. 

Some of the athletes choose to participate in the winter version of track and field, more commonly referred to as “indoor track.” Sheridan does not recognise indoor track as a school sport, and so there are no funds nor coaches available to the high schoolers wishing to maintain their athletic abilities, thus it is up to them as individuals to spend the colder months lifting and conditioning on their own time, and dedicate their weekends to competing at indoor track meets.

Sheridan junior Harper Nash is one of the athletes that spends her winter working out. “I feel like it’s really important to keep strong and in shape especially in the off-season so that you’re ready when spring comes around. It can get sort of hard to find space to work out, though, because we don’t have a coach— we’re not allowed to use the hallways or the weight room without adult supervision,” says Nash. “It really just comes down to us to make ourselves better.”

Even without access to the facilities, though, you can be sure to catch more than a couple athletes running along the snow shrouded roads, or getting a quick lift in during borrowed time from a teacher after school. Off of school property, these athletes are occupying gyms and treadmills, doing their best to make do with what they have.

As the snow outside turns to slush and the sun returns to the frostbitten sky, track season will begin, but until then, Sheridan track and field athletes are bettering themselves in spite of the harsh elements outdoors, overcoming the bite of the cold and finding new ways to outlast the winter.