The NYA Indoor Track & Field Team took to the track for the first time this season on Friday night at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham. A snow day, a brutally cold week, and a few illnesses are not the best ingredients for a training recipe leading up to the first meet. The team did not let any of that get in the way of giving it their all and several veteran members hit personal records while many new athletes had successful first attempts at new events.
NYA started off the afternoon with Jack L.(’19) competing in the 55m high hurdles. This was his first time racing in the senior division which is a challenge in the hurdles because the hurdles are 3″ higher than they were last year. Jack was still able to successfully negotiate all of the hurdles and finish only .4 seconds slower than his best time ever and even place 6th in a time of 10.01 to earn a point for the team.
Next on the track was the 55m dash. For the boys Junior division Sam (’21) and Wylie (’21) represented NYA well with strong starts and racing straight through the finish. In the senior Division Jackson (’19) and Abram (’19) made their Indoor debut and finished within a few hundredths of a second of each other while Markus (’19) led the way for the team placing 4th with a time of 7.30 which is .05 seconds faster than his PR. On the girls side Eleanor (’21) and Lexi (’21) started their indoor careers with solid races and Tessa (’18) raced well in the senior division running only .1 seconds slower than her career best.
At the same time as the 55m the long jump was happening on the other side of the track. NYA had 6 competitors in the long jump and only 1 of those 6 had ever jumped indoors before. All 6 athletes got legal measurements (which is a HUGE deal in the first competition). Also happening at the same time as the 55m dash was the shotput where Jack S.(’18) and Reece (’18) placed 7th and 10th respectively. Bella MacMahon (’18) competed for her first time as an Indoor T&F athlete as well by tossing the shot 17 feet even to place 12th.
The last field event we competed in was the girls high jump where Lexi and Eleanor competed in the junior division. We hadn’t practiced high jump much but they each put the pieces together nicely and cleared the bar at 4’0 while narrowly missing 4’2″.
Both girls ended up placing in the meet and earning points for the team with Lexi finishing 5th and Eleanor 6th.
Next up on the track was the boys 400m. Sam was our sole competitor in the Jr. Division and just missed placing by finishing 7th but his steady pace and strong finish look good for the future. In the Sr. Division Markus and Jack L. raced each other all the way to finish line and finished 4th and 5th respectively. 
Both boys snuck just under the 1 minute mark running 59.58 and 59.90. Jackson and Abram were not far from placing overall either and it looks like they both learned a good amount from the race.
The boys 4×200 capped off the meet with a 7th place finish. After another week of practice and some work on our hand-offs we will be back in the hunt for a top 6 finish. I would say that, overall, it was a great start to the racing season and I am already looking forward to next week. Don’t forget that we have the late meet and it will start at 6:30pm. Also, please be sure to check the food signups for the potluck for the athletes. Additionally you can see all of the photos from the meet and the full results by following the links below.