The Lakewood track team is starting up again, and everyone is racing to get on the team. This year is the third year for Coach Coleman to coach a track team for Lakewood, and we have more runners participating this year than ever before. Grades third through fifth are allowed to run. Lakewood is lucky enough to have some very fast runners on the team.

You've probably heard of the track team, but do you know that Coach Coleman has a helper, Mrs. De La Valdene? She is the mom of Marc De La Valdene, a fourth grader in Mr. Newberry's class. Coach Coleman is glad that Mrs. D is helping her because she would not be able to do the clinics with everyone without her help. Coach Coleman's goals are to teach the runners the best way to run and improve their running skills. Another goal is to teach the runners the importance of team work.

You may think that track is all about running and winning but there is more. You choose how far you want to run and there are heats you run in which are grouped by your age. At a track meet you can run a 50 yd., 100 yd., 200 yd., 400 yd., 800 yd., or a 400 yd. relay when four people run 100 yd. each. There are too many people to run all at once so they have heats.

There are five track meets from April 18 to May 16th, every Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Each track meet is in the same place. The track team meets every Thursday. At the practices they work on sprints, relays, and even racing against each other. They practice around the soccer field next to the big playground and the baseball diamond.

There are about fourty five kids this year (mostly 3rd graders) and last year there were about 15 kids ( again, mostly 3rd graders). Coach Coleman would love it if you would join the track team at a track meet to cheer them on.

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