The Oxford High School track team has had a very strong season finishing up at the state meet last weekend. The Chargers are led by Coach Chris Patton who is pushing the team to work hard and be the best they can be everyday of the season.
“I have stayed on them, holding them accountable, pushing them, because you can’t go half tail and practice and then expect great results at meets, you know, it’s just not gonna happen,” Chris Patton said. “So I try to put them in situations in practice that they will see in a meet, or put them in situations tougher than what they’re seeing at meets. And, that way it won’t be a shock when the meet comes because how can you go half speed at practice and try to go full speed in the meet. Number one, you’re risking an injury and number two, you’re not gonna see the results that you expect. So, we try to push ‘em every day in practice so they can know how you’re gonna feel in the meet.”
Some athletes face the challenge of having to compete in more than one event. So when it comes to practice they are pushed hard each day to be able to go to the meet and compete to the best of their ability.
“We have an athlete that’s competing in four events, which is a lot. So we gotta put them in those situations in practice,” Chris Patton said. “So, that athlete may have to have a longer practice than everybody else because, when you get to a meet, you’re gonna have a longer day than everybody else. So you just gotta, practice those situations that you’re gonna see in competition, that way it’ll be easier to be.”
The Chargers have been very successful this season and are exceeding the expectations they held for themselves. Working together as a team to be the best they can be has been their goal all season long.
“The season has been going very well. I feel like as a team, we have been able to accomplish a lot more than I thought we would.” Junior Bailey Kosko said.
The team has pushed themselves every practice and held themselves to the highest standards every day to work to be the best they can be.
“A typical practice would include warmups, drills, and stretches. On Mondays and Wednesdays, it’s normally a slow day at our own pace. On Tuesdays it’s a fast day, which we will have to compete,’’ senior Nyla Patton said.
The Chargers have the postseason coming up for them and are working every day to be the best they can be and push to go as far as they can in the postseason.
“What I try to tell them every meet we have is a practice for those playoff meets. So we’re trying to find ourselves, trying to find out how to race. We’re trying to perfect those techniques into throwing the jumps, the vaults, the sprints. We’re trying to perfect those. That way in a meeting, you don’t have to think about what you have to do. You do it so much in practice and then boom, you just do it in, in a meet.”
