The boys’ and girls’ track teams had the most successful season in the history of the school, boasting district, regional, and state championships. Girls’ head coach Mr. Bob Hohnadel and boys’ head coach Coach Barrett Saunders are set on leading the teams to accomplish new goals.

Coach Saunders has led the boys’ team to three back-to-back district titles as well as first place at the regional meet and the state championship. 

“The goal for the rest of this year was first and foremost to try and qualify as many guys for the state meet as possible. The more guys that qualify for state meet the more experience the team gains. The next main goal was to try and win the first regional title in school history, lastly we wanted to compete well at the state meet, if that happens we will give ourselves a shot at winning a state title,” he said. 

Besides being the first Benjamin boys’ track team to win regionals and states, one of the boys’ biggest successes this season was winning the county championship meet, making them the first private school to do so. 

With these successes came challenges, according to senior Matthew Postman, who detailed the team’s struggles over the course of the season.

“Personally, the biggest challenge I overcame this year was mentally battling myself, as I wanted to push myself as much as I could to run as fast as I could, and in doing so it took a lot of mental challenge. In terms of the team, I wish we could have gotten more members for our distance team as we could have made a bigger impact for the team come regionals and districts,” he said.

The girls’ team was similarly successful, according to Mr. Hohnadel. 

“The group that I coached did very well. They did as well as they did in cross country; its the same group of girls, and they did really good. Districts was our best meet. Everybody came through and got all the points we needed,” added Mr. Hohnadel.

Distance runners, junior Ingrid Corpus and freshman Sydney Schiff, both noted how their coach has been immensely helpful in helping them improve.

“My coach, Coach Ho, helped me improve this season by giving  the team intense track sessions, helping us to increase the mileage and intensity along the way, and of course encouraging us and pushing us to be our best, supporting us in every race,” said Schiff.

“I PRed in both the 1600 and 3200 at the Palm League championship meet. The coaching staff has been very accommodating and has helped me with my training plan, specifically by incorporating more speed work into practices,” added Corpus. 

While the girls did not perform as well as regionals and states, select runners did well, including the girls’ 4×800 relay team who placed 8th at states.