Being the center of attention when a crowd is watching you can be scary. However, you know you’ve been working all week. No matter what sport you compete in, coming on top is always the goal even with hundreds or thousands of people watching you. The best way people can understand this is if they come into the lens of a competitor. 

Sophomore Mohammad Barakat has the best lens of a thrower on the South High track team. He said he has records to break, goals he has set, and advice for future throwers. 

“I want to throw a 45-yard javelin, and that’s the school record,” Barakat said. 

Barakat talked about advice he would give to anyone thinking of joining the track team. 

“It doesn’t matter how strong you are, if you don’t have the form down and you don’t work for it, that Javelin is not going very far,” he said.  

Expanding on that concept, he gave a piece of advice on how to balance school and being a track athlete. 

“They always say that school comes first, and you just got to get your work done before everything else,” he said.  

Another athlete who embodies what it means to be a model track competitor is senior Cameron Harris. Harris has been a multisport athlete for 5 years, specifically in football and track. He also has many goals and aspirations for track as he is heading into his senior season. 

“Many goals this season is to go to state in the 100-meter dash and get a lower time in the 200-meter dash,” Harris said.  

To get ready for those goals, Harris follows a strict training routine that he has to strictly follow in order to meet his goals and aspirations. 

“Training routine? I like to go to the gym, do squats, leg presses, and vertical jumps. I also work on my abdominals—they help a lot with running. Your abs help a lot with running,” he said.  

Leading off of that, sprinting and distance instructor Coach Joe Rosewell gave a statement on how this season is going to be different from last season. 

“Last season we had a number of distance guys who were really solid. I think this year we’re more where we got a lot of sprinters who are more solid. And so it’s not like distance guys are bad or the sprinters were bad last year. It’s just like emphasizing those things that change as kids graduate and stuff,” Rosewell said.  

Coach Brad Zerman has also spoken on throwing the javelin, and talked about his biggest challenge as a coach. 

“My biggest challenge is probably with the number of towers I have, I think I have more than ever before. So just to be actively coaching everybody at practice is kind of a challenge,” he said.