The Priory track season is well underway, and a month out from districts, times have been dropping like flies. After a disappointing cross country season marred with injury and heartbreak, many of the Runnin’ Ravens have returned to redeem themselves on the track. Greg Britt, fresh off a cross country state qualification, is looking to continue his running success this spring. Yuri Batan, who has struggled with injuries for much of the last two years, is looking to break out in his senior year and maybe break a few school records while he’s at it. And let’s not forget the trio of underclassmen, Justin Nangle, Sam Faust, and Jacob Schmerold, who have been training all winter and are ready to make their mark at the varsity level. These returning cross country runners are joined by soccer transfers Patrick Hamill and Matthew Mueller, who have already established themselves as middle distance phenoms in the program, as well as a new slate of throwers under the tutelage of Coach Estrada, Priory’s new throwing coach.

With all these promising individual athletes, this year’s season looks bright. Although many of our best sprinters graduated last year, the middle and long distance programs are looking stronger than ever. After two fairly miserable meets at the beginning of the season, the Ravens were blessed with some beautiful weather at the All Catholic meet last Saturday, and proceeded to unload some massive PRs and season bests. Our 4×800 relay team dropped 15 seconds off their season best to place in a close second, and Pat won the open 800 meter in a blistering time of 2:01, inching ever closer to the elusive sub-two minute clocking. Matt also came out strong and was just barely edged out for first place in the 400 meter dash, recording a PR of just under 53 seconds. To finish off the day, Greg dropped a two mile PR of 10:39. Pretty good for one meet.

With only one regular season meet left, we are quickly moving towards districts. While we lucked out with a relatively easy district, our sectional will be one of the toughest in the state. The mood on the team is confident, however, as times are continuing to drop, with the 4×800 relay team beginning to look like a serious contender at the state level. If you want to catch a glimpse of the Runnin’ Ravens before districts, we have one last meet under the lights at Clayton next Friday. After that, the march to State begins.