Yesterday I went to my first track meet, in Gunnison. I rode a school bus for literally my first time, for 3 hours there. I woke up at 4 AM, and Dad took me to the school. I learned on the bus that I’d be doing the High Jump (which was expected), the 4×100 (which was also kinda expected), and the 100m hurdles (which was the LAST thing (besides shotput) that I thought I’d be doing…. I’ve never jumped a hurdle before!).
We got there around 8, and set all our stuff down. Field events started at 9, and High Jump started right at 9. I started some practice jumps at around 8:45, and then we started.
I was with two other people from the school who I knew fairly well. One of them didn’t want to jump, and scratched 3 times in a row, losing in the first round. Fynn, the other person, tried really hard, and got the first bar (3’8″) on his first try, but then lost barely on the second (He just barely hit his foot at the end, after he landed….).
I cleared the 4′ one, and they came from time to time just to check on me, to see if I was still in, which I was. After clearing the 4’2″ one, on which I totally slammed my leg on the pole holding up the bar, I missed my first two tries on the 4’4″ one, but just barely made the third try.
Around that time, they issued the final call for the hurdles, and I told the coach who was refereeing for the high jump that I had to go do hurdles. I felt like I could barely walk from hitting the pole, but I went. So everyone took a break for the high jump, and I got as ready as I could be for the hurdles.
Some of my friends were giving me last minute tips, which I tried to use, but ended up kinda failing. I was in second for most of the time, surprisingly (I hit most of the hurdles, but I was sprinting really fast), but then I fell and scratched up my arm pretty bad, but instantly got back up, and overall over the two heats, I got 7th out of 15.
After that, I went back to high jump, for the 4’6″ height, on which I really didn’t feel sure of myself, and ended up doing 2 run throughs without jumping. After that, I just cleared my head and completed it on my first try.
After this, there were only 5 people left, and I began to start thinking I could actually win it, if I could just clear 4’8″. The first try, I wasn’t ready and hit the bar off, but then I saw everyone else but one person miss. I thought to myself, “If I could make this, then it’ll probably be just me and 1-2 other people….”, so I made it on my second try!
Everyone else took their second and third jumps, and they all missed, except for one boy from Gunnison. So we were down to the final 2, and neither of us made the 4’10” height, and we had to go to the side, while the coach calculated who got first and second from the previous jumps. I ended up winning ’cause somehow I landed more jumps more quickly than him or something.
I kinda sat around for a while after that, ’cause my 4×100 wasn’t for a while. I watched all my teammates race, and some of them did pretty well!
My friend Jacob, who was with me for most of the time while I was high jumping, congratulating me and helping me with the hurdles, got third in the long jump, and third in the 200.
Around that time, Mom, Dad, Isaac and Jadyn finally arrived, and I practiced with my team for the 4×100. The time finally came around for the race (I was the anchor, the final runner), and we started off great, we were in the lead, when our second runner dropped the baton….. And just like that, we were disqualified….
So after that, Mom and Dad left back to our house, and I just walked around for a while. I had a few friends running the mile and the 800, but they didn’t really get close to placing. We went back to the school after that, and I got a cool ribbon for placing 1st in the high jump. After we got back, Dad took me to tennis, and that was just so tiring…. But fun.
So not bad for my first track meet, I think. A 1st place, a 7th place in something I’ve never thought about ever doing, and a DQ. I have another one on Saturday, and I’m hoping I actually get to sprint in something I want to do, like the 100, 200, 400, or to get another shot at the 4×100 or 4×200. I might even want to practice hurdles now just to be ready for anything. Later in the season I might want to try the 800 or 1600, if I can get my mile time below 6 minutes.