The Struthers track team had their first track meet on Thursday, March 28th at Salem High School.
The first meet of the season proved to be more difficult than usual, as it was an invitational. It is not a usual occurrence to start the year with an invitation, but previous weather issues led to the originally planned meets getting canceled. Compared to other meets, invitationals are a lot more difficult to handle because there are a lot more teams attending, with there being 18 at Salem on Thursday.
Lexa Tovtin, a senior thrower on the team, reflects on her performance at Salem.
“I definitely did better than I anticipated. I was able to place 5th out of all the teams there,” says Tovtin.
It proved to be a bit of a rough start for the Wildcats, with not many of them scoring points at this meet. Lexa Tovtin was the main athlete to score points for the team, coming 5th in shotput and scoring 4 points for her team.
Tovtin is proud, yet reflective of her overall performance and how she carried the rest of the team.
“I definitely think I did the best in shot put. I overall think I can improve. There are always things to improve and learn from,” says the senior.
Despite the difficult start, there is still plenty of time to improve. Since then, the Wildcats have had 2 other meets, both of which they were making good progress in and having a lot more athletes placing. On senior night, the girl’s team placed first overall, and at Lakeview many of the athletes placed. The season isn’t over yet, and the team only seems to be looking up from here.
Tovtin is optimistic about the future of the team.
“Both meets were definitely a step up from Salem. I think everyone is constantly getting better, and it’s so fun to see. My personal goal by the end of the season is to break the school record and go to state,” says the thrower.
