Jackson Heights athletes finding their niche on the track

So far this track season, the weather has been pretty agreeable on meet days and the Jackson Heights athletes have been taking advantage of that. Tuesday in Holton was another example of that.

“Overall, I thought we competed pretty well Tueday,” JH coach Lyle Alley said. “We just had several young people perform better than what they had performed up to this point.”

That included personal bests from senior Kaitlynn Little, who won both the 800m and 1600m races on the girls side, while Seth Holliday had a season best time on the way to an individual title in the boys 800m run.

Young athletes like Becca Gibson and Abby Williams also hit key marks in the shot put and long jump, respectively, and Alley said the improving efforts may have something to do with the athletes starting to find their niche.

“We’re at the halfway point of our season and up to this point we’ve had a number of athletes try a number of different things. I think we’re now starting to get people in their place, where they belong,” Alley said. “We’re starting to find homes for everybody on the track team and when we do that then we can go ahead and they can spend a great bit more time working on those events instead of trying out something new all the time.”

Participation numbers are also playing in the team’s favor, helping the boys take second at the meet in Holton on Tuesday and the girls finish third. More than that, though, Alley said the athletes are buying into the preparation process that the coaches stress from the time the athletes get off the bus until the start of their first event.

As Jackson Heights continues to compete against opponents from larger schools, which won’t change next Tuesday in a meet at Silver Lake, Alley hopes his athletes continue to demonstrate the attitude he has been pleased with so far this season.

“I think that the one thing we’re doing well right now is we don’t look at the jersey of anybody around us. We just go out and do our thing and we have to continue to do that,” Alley said.