Winter Track at MHS

By Gg Albuja 

March 20223

Winter Track at Melrose High School has become increasingly popular over the past years. It is a co-ed sport that competes in meets at the Track at New Balance in Boston. This is a new track in Boston where the track team competed in all of their league meets. The team is coached by Shannon Kane, Nicole Akouri, and Cal Finocchiaro. Each coach specializes in certain areas of the sport to benefit the athletes as much as they can. Coach Akouri works with the distance runners, Coach Finocchiaro focuses on the jumping and sprinting athletes, and Coach Kane is the head coach. One athlete explained how, “Ms. Kane is a great coach. Not only does she help us improve our skills physically but she also makes sure that we are confident in them and our performance.” 

This year, those who qualified attended the State Championship in late February. Although they did not place as a team, athletes placed individually.  Cadence L’Heureux is one of  the athletes who qualified. Cadence competes in multiple events including the long jump, the 600m, the 1000, the 4 by 4 and the mile. I interviewed her about her season, and she overall rated the season a 10/10.  She said “It was a really fun season. You just make so many friends because everyone is so welcoming.” L’Heureux says she loves the sport, team, and coaches. She is one of the many team members who also participates in spring track and is the only member of the girls team who competed at nationals in New York City. 

After talking with a few team members, I learned that the athletes’ mental toughness is something they focused on throughout the season. One athlete said that to prepare for races, they not only focus on their physical abilities but their mental ones too. Track is oftentimes very stressful for the athlete, since there is only a small window of opportunity for performance, as opposed to a sport where you continuously play throughout a game. So, it is important that the athletes are able to stay calm under pressure and remain confident in themselves.