New season, new talent

Story by Abbey Euritt – Staff Reporter

   With the 2023 track season beginning, new talent and athletes are rising in many events. The multitude of events for the athletes to participate in allows different skills to perform throughout the season. Coach Madison Granillo, the boys and girls hurdles coach, is pursuing her second year of coaching track at Lee’s Summit North, intending to continue building improvement in the athletes. 

    “[My goals for this season are] continuous improvement and building upon last year, which was my first year coaching at LSN after coaching high jump at Liberty High School for one year before,” Granillo said. 

   In Granillo’s high school experience, she participated in track, running sprints and hurdles. Track is a large part of her life, and she continues to share her passion while coaching.

   “I have such a passion for track and field. It’s how I met my husband and some of my best friends. I enjoy sharing my passion with kids and watching them work hard to get better,” Granillo said. 

   As she coaches the hurdle events at LSN and also participated in them throughout her high school experience, Granillo shares lots of knowledge about them.  

   “There are two hurdle races in high school track. For girls, they run the 100m and 300m hurdles and boys run the 110m and 300m hurdles. The short hurdle races have 10 hurdles on the straightaway and the 300m hurdles have 8 hurdles around 3/4 of one lap that are much further spaced apart. They are both sprint events with hurdles to jump over during the race,” Granillo said. 

   The athletes practice a variety of exercises to further their success at the event each week. Each training session has a specific way of bettering the athletes in different ways. 

   “We will practice hurdles 2-3 times per week, and the other days the hurdlers might do other events (like jumps) that they will go to practice as well as do the sprinters’ workouts. As I mentioned earlier, the hurdle races are sprinting events with the addition of hurdles, so you need to be able to run fast and hurdle well at the same time,” Granillo said. 

   As the LSN track team begins their season, new talents have begun to show through the athletes, leaving coaches excited for the success that will hopefully come this season.