The Ann Richards track and field team participated in the AISD District meet on the 5th and 6th of April after a long 6-7 meet season.

Ten throwers and runners qualified for the area meet by placing in the top 4 of a varsity event. The area meet will be held on April 20th in Marble Falls.

“Districts was very nerve-wracking and I wasn’t very confident at first, but I had support from my coach and my teammates and I started to [feel] more at ease. I just went out there, did my best and went for it, and somehow I made it to area,” 800m and 4×4 sophomore runner Claudia Luong said.

The coaches, Albert Marino, Meg Brown, Jackie Thiel, and Mendoza look forward to the area meet as a challenging opportunity for the qualifying athletes.

“I think area will be an exciting opportunity for our athletes to broaden their horizons and compete in a very exciting meet with top-level competition,” Coach Marino said. “I hope they have fun and consider it their dessert after six months of hard work.”

The thrower team has grow in size in the past two years, and continue to be successful in their events as two of the varsity throwers qualified for area and many JV girls achieved new personal records.

“The throwers came to practice every morning at 7:15, worked hard, and it was good,”  Coach Brown said. “It’ll be tough for us to get out of area, but the girls are going to work hard for the rest of time, go out and do their best on Thursday.”

This school year is the first time Austin High is in the same UIL district as Ann Richards. Their girls’ participation provided an extra challenge for the Ann Richards runners, as Austin High placed first as a team in the last fall cross country district meet.

“I think having new schools in our district, like Austin High, changed our outcome, but I think the accomplishments of all of the runners were exceptional anyway, even though not as many of us are going to area,” 3200 and 1600m junior runner Willow Dalehite said.

Many of the athletes set new personal records in the district meet, resulting from their 5-6 month period of training this winter and spring.

“I cut off a lot of time since my freshman year, so that was a great accomplishment and I felt proud of myself,” Luong said. “I felt like I could conquer the world.”

The athletes enjoyed this long season as a period of personal improvement and time with their team, through it’s high and low points.

“[The season] has been tough. Every time I raced I would expect a PR (personal record), but it wasn’t always the case,” Luong said. “But, I still enjoyed practicing with my team in the mornings and long runs at Town Lake, and getting breakfasts at Magnolia. I’m glad that [the coaches] have pushed us throughout the season because it has made me a better runner.”