AT THE STARTING LINE: CHATHAM INDOOR TRACK TAKES OFF

Greg Dedrick
ccSCOOP Sports Editor

Chatham varsity athletes will have a chance to compete this winter in a new sport not previously offered: coed indoor track.

Coached by Dan Kohler along with assistant Suzanne Wightman, the new team has a roster of 25 girls and 15 boys. With a new sport added to the previously offered four, finding space for practices can be tough. The team has mainly been practicing outdoors, but their weight training, circuit drills, and technical drills are held indoors wherever space can be found. Meeting the challenge of finding practice space, the team has taken advantage of the 150-foot track over the Morris Memorial Courts to work on tight-turning drills.

The goal of the team is to add strength and improve fitness for athletes looking to play a spring sport. It also provides an alternate winter activity not previously offered. Even with a newly formed team, there is still a strong core of athletes, including outdoor runners Leah Wightman and Hayley Madsen.

The meets are held at colleges around the area that have indoor tracks. Most of the tracks are just 200 meters long, half the size of a normal outdoor track, with some of them featuring banked turns and high walls. Most of outdoor track events are run indoors, with slightly different distances.

ccSCOOP will be your number one resource to catch all the action and results for the new Chatham indoor track team and indoor track team at Ichabod Crane, which is now in its second year.