As many of our students at Woodward Academy now know, the high school Varsity Girls Track and Field team placed 1st in 5 different events and set the new school/classification record in 3 events. In addition to being AAAAAA State Champions, one of our graduating seniors, Olivia Powell, was named the AAAAAA highest point winner for her exceptional performance in her individual and relay events. Maggie Nievera ‘24, a pole vaulter who made it to State, shares her experience with her team leading up to state championships.
Many track runners or pole vaulters choose track because they enjoy “runners’ high” or simply want to improve their running skills and compete. For Nievera, this was not the case.
“I didn’t really choose to do pole vaulting, my coach scouted us out,” Nievera said. “If you have a gymnastics or cheer background, they’ll get you to try out.”
Although pole vaulting can be enjoyable and rewarding, like with any sport, athletes sometimes lose motivation. Competing in a sport like pole vaulting or running can be particularly difficult to continue if you don’t have the right motivation as it is very physically demanding and exhausting.
“I really just have to remember that I’m competing in the future, or I have a lot going on and it’s like an escape,” Nievera said. “You leave everything outside of practice and just focus on what you’re practicing.”
There are three different events a track and field athlete can compete in, making room for many options for such athletes to choose from. Often, if you’re particularly talented at only one event and not at another, you may be at a disadvantage. Athletes who are talented in multiple events have an advantage, as they can be used to help you in another event. Nievera gives her input on another event she wishes she could perform well.
“It would definitely be sprinting, I’m not a very fast runner,” Nievera said. “I feel like that would really help with pole vaulting if I could run really fast.”
Many track runners experience twisted ankles as well as ankle sprains, strains and stress fractures. Knee injuries or tearing an ACL are other common injuries. No matter how talented a track athlete may be, everyone gets injuries at one point in time or another. Injuries can be a major setback for any track and field athlete.
“Last year at State we wore shoes called spikes and they help you run faster,” Nievera said. “I cut my leg with my spikes at state during my meet and I needed stitches but I didn’t get stitches so they wrapped my leg and I triple PR’d”.
11 of the girls on the Track and Field team made it to state. Nievera shared her experience on making it to State, but not performing as well as she would have liked and focusing more on the positive side.
“I did think that I was gonna make it to State. The past few weeks, I’ve had some rough competitions and State didn’t go exactly how I wanted it to go for myself,” Nievera said. “I am glad that we got a state championship for the girls team, and even though I couldn’t contribute as much as I wanted to, I’m very happy for the team as a whole”.
In order to calm their anxieties before a race, many runners try to focus on something else rather than their competition, or they will do something along the lines of warming up properly and focusing on successes instead of the possible failure.
“Before I pole vault, I’m normally freaking out- I get really stressed out about it… the way I do it is I have a ritual where before my meet I go get coffee or a redbull and I listen to my music as loud as possible while driving,” Nievera said. “When I get there, I wear headphones and warm up by myself and focus on myself and think about how I can do it and visualize a lot, I do a lot of visualizing.”
Having a positive and supporting team can make all the difference in a runner’s experience with track. Luckily, Woodward’s track and field team seems to have a very collective and welcoming attitude.
“I really like running… I really like doing it because the whole track team is like a community and a family and very supportive,” Nievera said.
