Some sports at Hollis Brookline do not get the same recognition and love as others but are still filled with the same excitement and strong athletes. One of these hidden teams is the indoor track squad, compiled with athletes who are aiming to win and preparing themselves for the upcoming outdoor track and field season.

Indoor track helps these athletes prepare themselves for the more serious upcoming outdoor season in the spring. “I mainly do indoor track to prepare me for the more serious season,” said Jordin Stone ‘19. Stone had quite an impressive season, placing third in the Division II State Meet with a 1:25 600m (a school record!). This time will earn him a spot in the New England’s regional meet. Stone is proud of this feat, not only for himself but for the team in general. Making New England’s “shows we aren’t the slow team that other schools make us out to be,” said Stone.

Indoor track is an individual sport, meaning each athlete competes for themselves but scores points for their team. This causes athletes of the same school to compete against each other. For HB, Joey Dias ‘19 and JJ Kennedy ‘20 always compete against each other, since they both compete in the 55m dash and long jump. This greatly improves both of these athlete’s scores and increases their determination. “We always are trying to be better than each other and it brings out the best in us,” said Kennedy.  These athletes “push each other to get better,” said Dias. By working hard to try and beat the other, both of these athletes became more prepared for the upcoming outdoor season, where Kennedy hopes to have a “breakout season in hopes of competing in college.”

Even though most events in track are individual, there are relay events in which they run together as a team. HB has a very impressive 4×160 relay team, composing of  Kennedy, Dias, Rob Bardani ‘19, and Chase Adams ‘20 (four runners total, each running 160m). The group won three meets this year and nearly made the New England meet. A major part of this team is increasing the chemistry among the runners, which helps greatly with the handoff and energizing fellow teammates. “We’ve had the same relay team for three consecutive seasons and the chemistry among the team has improved on each handoff …the four of us have gotten faster,” said Dias.

The indoor track season has passed by, helping these runners be fully prepared for their big upcoming outdoor track season in April. With the spring season upcoming, track and field is a great sport to help keep students in shape, or even compete for a medal against fellow classmates from HB and all over NH.