A tale of two track seasons

Although indoor and outdoor Track & Field at SJC have its differences there is always a constant sense of closeness at SJC. Lorelei Mclntosh ‘25 said, “It is our community aspect. It’s our coaching staff and that they played in college. The way the coaching staff pays attention to each athlete. The community being so close together and we all are very committed to what we do. We all want to do better.”

The main difference between indoor and outdoor Track & Field is the track size. In indoor the track is 200m instead of a traditional 400m outdoor track. Most of the time the indoor track season is a tune up season for runners and an opportunity to gain more endurance. The outdoor track season has more of main track events. 

From a sprinters perspective, Ni-Ann Cross ‘23, prefers outdoor over indoor because of the weather and the better shape it puts you in. Cross said, “As a sprinter, I mainly have to adjust the distances I’m running (100m as opposed to 55m, 200m as opposed to 300m, 100h as opposed to 55h, etc). The most challenging part about indoor track and field to me is the weather because it takes longer for me to warm up, especially because I’ve had surgery on both knees so I have to make sure they’re fully warmed up before I start to do the workout.” The adjustment runners have to make is knowing the lap differences while racing indoors and figuring out pace for the outdoor track since the track is longer.

With the difference of outdoor and indoor Track & Field  they still have one thing in common, it just keeps fueling up a winning mentality.