Confidence Is Key For Rams

Since track isn't exactly football with a platoon of coaches to help with the many events and athletes, it isn't unusual for coaches to look to upperclassmen and those who have competed for a couple of years to help.

Ridgewood's Sue Vien is one coach who does just that, especially in the first few weeks of the season.

"I want the younger athletes to get the experience of the first meet," Vien said. "I want them to get the confidence."

Part of that is to get some experience. Clearly, practice is different from a meet, so Vien wants her inexperienced athletes to get an idea of how to compete from watching and participating alongside the experienced athletes.

"It's confidence," Vien said.

Vien often asks young athletes who are competing for the first time what their goal is in each event. Often, she said, they don't have a goal.

"So I pick one for them," Vien said.

That gives the athletes something else to be concerned with, and they can focus on meeting their goal instead of being intimidated by the competition.

"Once they meet their goals, then we try another goal," Vien said.

STRONG TEAM: How scary can both the Wiregrass Ranch boys and girls track teams be? Consider that a freshman boy participating in his first high school track meet won a 100-meter dash and finished second in the long jump and a less than 100 percent girls runner nearly set a personal best.

Competing in their own Running of the Bulls meet last week, the Wiregrass boys finished second to Nature Coast and the girls won the meet. Kiam Olan won the 100 meters and nearly seemed stunned by it all.

"It's a lot to do," said Olan, who was so overwhelmed he seemed in a daze, but he was comforted by his father after the meet. "This is hard. It's really challenging."

His jump of 21 feet in the long jump was his personal best.

Ariel Grey won two events - the mile and 2-mile run - while battling a bug that caused her to struggle through practices in the days leading up to the meet. She wasn't sure she would compete.

"I didn't expect to do this well," Grey said. "Two days ago, I didn't do so well in practice, but I felt better today."