Zack Smith Blog: The Season Has Begun

It’s great to be back following the opening weekend for many in this year’s track season! DGN opened up at Hinsdale Central last night, and there were a bunch of exciting performances on the track and in the field.

We had a bunch of guys run strong 800s in the 4 x 800m relay to open up the season, headlined by Tony Zea and Ryan Clevenger (left photo), who ran 2:01 and 2:03, respectively. Considering these were run on a 160m track in the first meet of the year, they were both great times for the guys to open up with. Jack Diamond was another guy who ran very well in the 4 x 800, and he also came back run a very good mile as well. He ran 4:41, which was only a few seconds off his PR, to take the win. He was followed closely by Jared Spilky, who finished in 4:42, and Zac Christensen.

It was definitely a strong showing on the distance side of things, as the hard work the guys have been putting in paid off. Outside of the distance events, we had many strong performances particularly in the throws. Nick Steichmann took the win with a throw of 47-0 in the shot, only three feet off of last season's personal record. The vaulters also opened up the year with a good showing on both the frosh/soph and varsity levels. Overall, I think that a lot of guys were very happy with how they performed, and there is a lot of enthusiasm about the rest of the season.

I did not run on Friday night due to a few minor setbacks earlier this winter, but I am scheduled to race next Saturday at the Proviso West Classic. This has always been one of my favorite indoor meets, and I am very excited to kick off my season there against a great field of competition. I know that a lot of my teammates feel the same way about this invite, and are excited to race in it as well. It will really be a nice checkpoint for us to see where we stand right now in comparison to some of the other top teams in the state. The event order has also been changed up majorly for next Saturday, which should make things even more interesting. I can honestly say I haven't run in a meet before where the 3200m is the second to last event, but I guess that not many other high school athletes can say that they have either. Anyway, the meet should be very competitive, and will definitely be worth checking out if you are free on Saturday morning! Have a good week, thanks for checking in this week!