Beachwood sent 20 athletes to the indoor track and field state championship on Saturday, March 2, and Bison athletes placed in seven events.

Senior Kylie Walters placed 6th in the long jump; senior Madison Torbert placed 4th in shot put; senior Dakota Houston placed 7th in the 60 meter dash and 7th in the 200 meter dash; the women’s 4×200 relay placed 7th; the men’s 4×200 placed 3rd and Sophomore Sasha Kheyfets placed 8th in the 3200 meter run. 

Coach Willie Smith is proud of all the athletes on this year’s team.

“Everyone shows improvement; some more than others, but if kids work hard they get better, some small increments, others in large increments,” he said.

Indoor and outdoor track are among Beachwood’s most successful teams. The indoor team has competed in national tournaments and placed 4th in last year’s state tournament. The track team has won the CVC championship the past two years and is looking to win a third year in a row.

Athletes feel that indoor track is a great way to improve their times and stay competitive during the winter season. Indoor competitions take place on a 300-meter track instead of the 400-meter tracks used during outdoor competitions. Indoor track also doesn’t include the 100 and 400 meter dashes. 

Athletes say the sense of competition is less intense in the indoor season. 

“Placing doesn’t really matter,” Houston said. “It’s more about cutting down time indoors until the states and all-star meet, unlike outdoors, where it’s like every meet you get a medal for what place you get.”

Runners train hard to stay in shape during the off-season and maintain or improve their times. Junior Osita Ogor works during the summer to work on his sprints for the 100 meter dash, 60 meter dash and 200 meter dash.

“I spend most of my time over the summer working with a personal trainer, an ex-collegiate athlete,” Ogor said. “We were working on sprints from the end of the outdoor season until early August.”

Maintaining speed and strength during the offseason prevents runners from becoming slower and also helps them cut time for the next season. 

Ogor currently holds the school record for the 100-meter dash, and he tied the record for the 60 meter dash. He is looking to make the 60 yard dash his own record this year, and he hopes to break the 200 meter dash record as well.

“I want to run a 10.5 on the 100 meter dash,” he said. “On the 60 I want to run 6.95 or eight high.”

Prior to states, Houston’s goal was to place high at states and improve her times to break her personal records. 

“I want to get ranked in all of my individuals as high as I can whether that’s top three or first place,” Houston said. “But obviously, yes, I want first place, but I also have to be realistic with myself.”

She knew that would require dedication both in the season and off-season.

“I mainly lifted and workout with my personal trainer to build my endurance and speed,” Houston said. “I did that all over the summer and played soccer during fall to also help my endurance.”

While a lot of the sport comes from the runners themselves, good coaches are keys to success in track as well.

Coach Willie Smith has been a huge role model to every runner on the team.

“Coach Smith has been incredible for the four years that I’ve been here,” Houston said. “He tells me a lot and helps me a lot with the mental state of just track itself, and has helped me a lot with my confidence outside and inside of track.”

“Not only has he mentored me through my personal affairs, he’s also my coach,” Ogor said. “He’s always pushing me to be the best version of myself I can be. When I think I’ve made it, he just tells me I can do better. That’s what makes him a good coach.”

Smith has been at Beachwood for 27 years, 26 of those years being the head coach of the track and field team. 

“Teaching life skills to motivate athletes to train with their best efforts,” Smith said on his coaching approach. “I use life skill analogies to parallel what they’re trying to accomplish, and what I need them to perform.”

Smith works with every athlete individually to their own abilities and skills to find events for them and to train certain ways.

“If a kid plays volleyball and wants to compete in track, playing volleyball and the plyometric components of jumping involved in playing volleyball might lend itself to being a good jumper,” Smith said. “So events like long jumping and high jumping might be good events for an athlete coming from that sport.”

This year was Junior Anastasiia Lebedeva’s first year running track. She acknowledges the effort that Coach Smith put it to helping her start the sport and find her events. Her main event that she ran in her first meet this year was the 60 meter dash. 

“He believed in me,” Lebedeva said. “I always asked coach or the other girls on the team questions if I didn’t know something. He always explained everything to me when we were doing our workouts, but the most important part was his support. He always told me to not give up and to keep working.”

Lebedeva worked hard every day at practice to continuously improve her speed and strength.

“I got a lot of training because we have practice every day,” Lebedeva said. “It’s difficult to assess myself, but during the three months of indoor track, I got better.”

Lebedeva plans on training more during the summer to keep herself in shape, as her goals for next year are to keep improving her times and run more events.

Smith says that the hardest part about coaching track is the parent involvement, or their lack of involvement. The culture and commitment is something that people who join have to learn.

“It takes a lot of work to try to get new athletes to buy into what our culture is all about,” Smith said. “So that when they come out for track they know expectations. Those who remain on the team, we can generally bring the best out of their abilities.”

“‘Hard work beats talent, when talent doesn’t work hard,’” is a quote Coach Smith likes to use for his athletes.

Smith praises all the athletes on this year’s team. 

“We have been blessed to have kids  that buy into our culture and understand the expectation that we have for them in our program,” Smith said.

“‘Those that stay will be champions.’ It’s a motto that we have tried to live by to bring success to our program,” Smith said.