Junior Landon Samp has been running track for five years and is on the varsity squad that recently won first at MSL conference. The meet started early in the afternoon at Barrington High School and the team didn’t get back until after 11 p.m.
Prospect beat both Hersey and Barrington and ended with 158.5 points. Hersey had 106, and Barrington had 105.5.
Samp competed in the 4×400 race at the meet and said “I remember I crossed the line, even though I didn’t even know what my time was, and there was just a huge mob of my teammates, coming around and cheering me on,”
Sophomore Pierce Baker and Senior Brody Cushing ran the 3,200-meter race. Baker finished with a time of 9:34 in third and Cushing finished with 9:30 in second.
Last year, this team did not win this conference and finished in fourth so it was very rewarding for them to finish in first place this year. Some other important runners are seniors Nate Cichy, who got second in the 110mH and Cameron Polley, finishing in fifth for the 110mH. They both helped the team win by getting high scores and fast times.
“Last year, I got fourth at that meet, and I ran a big PR as well, so it’s kind of a full circle moment,” Samp said. “My teammates were super hyped.”
Hydrating, wearing spikes, and tapering their training days prior help to prepare the runners for a big day. A 30-45 minute stretch or warmup also gets runners ready for a meet.
“Getting a lot of sleep, trying to recover properly, making sure you’re eating well,” Samp said as being keys for a successful meet day.
Getting enough sleep, while also trying to study for everything takes time away from the sport, so it makes it difficult for students to also make time for practice and preparation.
“It was a little harder this week because of AP testing, so I took APUSH and AP Lang so I had to be up a little earlier for that,” Samp said.
“A couple other teammates when I started to go towards my bag, gave me lots of hugs and stuff like that,” Samp said.
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