As track season approaches for Girls Track and Field, an influx of eager runners participate in the sport’s challenging training regimen, each athlete working relentlessly to become state champions next semester. However, confusion about what events they should compete in has been an ongoing topic of conversation amongst the team. 

To alleviate this rising issue, former Girls Track and Field coach, William Fairhurst, turned the rigorous training week into an Olympic event, enabling the athletes to display their various talents whilst fostering camaraderie amongst the team. 

“The whole idea came about because we had so many girls that it was their first year ever doing track and field,” said Fairhurst. “I kind of got to know the athletes early in the first few weeks and I asked them what events they might like, and I kept getting the answer, ‘I have no idea!’ So I was like, alright, how can I come up with a way for us to try a lot of different events to see what the kids are good at and combine that with some sort of team bonding activity, so I figured we could do like a decathlon.” 

Corresponding to the structure of the 2021 Olympics, the competition kicked off with the individual races, each athlete competing under a selected country “name” for gold medals and ice cream. The mock event granted the seniors the privilege to become captains amongst their own respective teams, each athlete selecting a variety of country names, like Mongolia, Sweden, and the United States. 

“The seniors got to kind of earn that right to pick teams and be captains,” said Fairhurst. “It would start to build a little bit of competitive spirit and a little bit of team comradery.”

After a two-week-long itinerary of individual events, the thrilling mock competition concluded with a team 4 by 200 relay. 

The individuals get to see like, ‘Hey I really like doing that event, and I was good at it, maybe it’s something that I want to pursue once the actual track season comes,’ ” said Fairhurst.  

For senior Mallory Collins, captain of team Mongolia, the Olympics has always been one of her favorite team-bonding experiences. 

“I like the Olympics and think they’re pretty fun!” said Collins. “I enjoy the team aspect of it because a lot of the year we don’t get that as much and we only get that around track season.”