Ryan Siguenza looks down the track, feet in place, locked in, the beginning slowly approaching in three… two… one… go!

As track season takes off, so do the Oviedo Lions. Introducing new coaches and techniques may be difficult, but the team is confident they will prevail. 

Planning to break his personal records and help get the team to districts and states, Siguenza’s hopes are at the ceiling. He is one of the team captains that’s been relentlessly training for his last year, earning himself a spot as one of the seniors to leave an imprint on the team forever.

“I hope to go the highest we possibly can,” he said. “The new coaches are really great compared to previous leadership, and they’ve helped the team a lot.” 

Senior captain Marc McDonald, like Siguenza, is aiming high this season. His gratitude and respect for the new coaches is shown daily on the track.

“Coach is very experienced in the field of running and competing, which really puts him in a good position to coach me and the rest of our team to be the best athletes we all can be,” McDonald said. “Seeing the improvement and seeing the smiles on people’s faces, having them cheer for me when I make big PRs, as well as making my coaches proud and growing the legacy, always brought me back to practice and back to running.”

Alyssa Wahl is captain of the female sprinters and is looking forward to achieving great things on the track.

“We want everyone to go for school records and to push hard during practices,” she said. “We warm up, then stretch, then do our workout, and have a cooldown,” said Wahl. “We actually don’t have that many seniors, but we are losing some of our star runners like Mark McDonald and Joe Bellamy.”

Without the loss of several seniors like all sports teams commonly struggle with, the girls sprint team is set for success next year. 

There is a lot of hope for the captains in their success in the season, as well as growth that can be made for up and coming runners. One thing is for sure though – these captains are pushing themselves and the rest of the team to the top.