Establishing an undefeated season so far, and working very hard towards earning another Greater Boston League title, the Malden High School’s girls track team continues to grow through their hard work with each practice and meet. With an undefeated current record of 3-0, the girls are proudly representing the school with victory and honor.
Having their head coach, David Londino guide them in the right direction, the girls have been having a fortunate present season.
As she grew through her life of doing track since her freshman year, junior Gillian Willcox says that “on a personal level,” this year she is one of the oldest people on the team compared to last year when she was one of the youngest. “It’s crazy to me since last year I felt so young. This year I have much more responsibility.”
As a team, Willcox thinks one big obstacle they have have to overcome is working together as a whole to motivate one another on and off the track at meets and even in practice. However, now she can easily say the team is very close and they all cheer for each other and help one another with everything.
With their most difficult and strongest defeat being against Medford, the girls push through and have allowed everything they have to take over and win. “They’ve been our strongest competitors so far in the season and in the start it looked like the meet could have gone either way” says Willcox.
The girls have made a great effort to be just as incredible this season as they were as last season. “Every meet we prepare for is an obstacle closer to the team goal” says junior Deborah Kibazo towards their nonstop, common goal of finishing off the season with another undefeated GBL title.
Kibazo compares track to other sports and says that “it’s different from most sports because there are so many things you can do to contribute to the team, you don’t have to be a sprinter or built a certain way to join. The best part is the atmosphere of the team where everyone around you supports you and you know that each and everyone around you is working hard towards a common goal and that you’re apart of that goal as well.”
The first day of freshman year, Willcox started warm up with everyone else and couldn’t even do the first two minutes without falling back. “I couldn’t run for my life basically.” She perseveringly stuck with it and was able to see herself improve over time. Being really happy she joined and stayed on the team, Willcox says “If you don’t think that you can do it, or you’re not the best runner already, you should join anyways because you will get better and shock yourself with how much you can improve.”
