Leesville’s runners are getting back into the swing of things. Leesville’s track coaches — Jerry Canada, Karen Hawkins, and Brent Hale — return for another competitive season of winter track.
“Coming into the second year of the program, everyone has more experience going into this year as compared to last year,” said Jerry Canada, head coach. “The winter track program has come a long way, and with the help of Coach Hawkins and Coach Hale, I look forward to continu[ing] to improve the program.”
Before last year, winter track at Leesville was only created as a way to stay in shape between the cross country and spring track seasons. Now, for the second year, Leesville has been training hard for important indoor invitationals.
With winter track, comes adjustments. Instead of an outdoor, 400-meter track, runners must become familiar with the dryness and shortness of an indoor, 200-meter track. Despite these changes, the events are similar, apart from more relays and an additional hurdle race outdoors.
“We usually get more people outdoors, but the indoor season is growing fast,” said Canada. “The biggest difference is that we had to make cuts this year.”
The team has been training for the past three weeks and looks to make an early mark at this weekend’s Liberty Christmas Invitational in Lynchburg, Virginia.
“This week, in Virginia, we are looking to see where we stand as a team and individually…It will be an early measuring stick to see where we are with our training and a good test for our new runners,” said Canada. “Mostly, the goals are to run hard, represent our school and show good sportsmanship.”
Glad to see the program growing. Keep up the good work!