With hard work and dedication, the WHBHS girls track team hopes to bring home the league title again. Last year, the girls track team proudly rose to League IV. They achieved this by working hard for what they each wanted but at the same time giving it all to help their team succeed.

Junior Oceane Ode wants to give it her all in all of her events. She knows the pressure is on, because there is good competition. She will be running the 4×400 relay which she didn’t do last year. The events she is hoping to improve in are the 55m dash, 300m dash and the 4×200. She said, “This year my main focus is to have my best season and get noticed by a lot of colleges, as well as getting to states and hopefully nationals.” 

Oceane is viewed as a role model for everything she has achieved. One thing she wants to say to freshmen that are planning on joining the track team is, “I encourage all freshmen to put 100% effort into every workout and every meet. Also to not complain about any workout because at the end of the day you will get what you put into training.” 

Oceone is always willing to help her teammates out and give them pointers to improve. She encourages them to “have fun, make friends, and give it your all.”

Doing the 300m dash, 4×400 relay and 600m dash is Valerie Finke. Her goals are set on making it to states. Last year she went to state qualifiers but was one place off. She said, “I’m really proud of how far I got but this year I want to improve in every single event, even if its by a fraction of a second.” Valerie didn’t consider herself an athlete but now she wishes to improve at any cost, even by watching what she eats. 

For senior Julia Smith, one of the best parts of being on the team is team bonding which lead to many successes. She has worked very hard to achieve what she wanted. She said, “Becoming second in the state took hard and long practices and spending hours in the weight room.” 

Sadly the team didn’t go to states last year because they fell short at state qualifiers. She added, “With the right training and mindset we really hope to achieve that goal.”

Last year Julia ran with Maeve Murphy, one of her best friends. Maeve graduated and the thought of not being able to run with her makes Julia sad. She said, “Even though it’s going to be a challenge running without her, the team and I are willing to rise to the challenge.”