Sweat drips from sophomore Anya Shi’s forehead as she finishes her last lap around the track. She takes in the coolness of the University of Chicago’s Henry Crown Field House  and smiles to herself while her teammates cheer her on. After she finishes, she goes over and hugs her friends, another day of indoor track training complete before she focuses on outdoor track in the spring season. 

Many U-High athletes, like Anya, started indoor track to stay in shape through the winter for their spring sport, however they eventually found a tight-knit community in the sport as well. 

Austin Warner, track team coach, said he’s seen an increase in participation in indoor track. He said he believes this is due to athletes recruiting their friends and coaches advertising — and because it’s a motivation for athletes wanting to get in shape for the spring season.

“I think it’s just a great group of individuals there,” he said. “I’ve been able to work with a lot of these athletes for years now, and they’re just fun people to be around. Of course we want to be competitive, but we try to keep things fun as well.” 

Junior Celia Lukas began track two years ago. During the fall season, she does cross country, and she does indoor track in the winter.

“I knew the coaches, I really liked the community and the sport, and I was able to see a lot of progress throughout the cross country season, so I wanted to build upon that foundation and see where I could go with the sport,” she explained. 

Originally, Celia planned on doing indoor track to train for soccer in the spring, but she decided to switch to outdoor track because of her positive experience in the winter.

“I think everyone is really supportive, and since you’re all together inside, there’s always people during a race cheering you on who run other events,” she said. 

She added that this was especially true for indoor track, where teammates can cheer each other on, whereas outdoor track is more spread out. 

Anya expressed a similar sentiment. She began indoor track to train for the spring season. In her opinion, outdoor track is more serious than indoor, so she wanted to be prepared. However, she ended up liking indoor track even more than cross country and outdoor track because she feels that the team is more closely knit. 

“Even though there’s a lot less meets and the season is shorter, I feel like I got to know more of the people on the team in general and also this is my first time meeting the short-distance people,” she said, referring to the team’s sprinters.

Mr. Warner believes what creates the close track community is the unique nature of track as a sport.

“It’s a lot of different pieces coming together. It’s a social sport where you hang out with your teammates between events,” he said. “Even though we have a lot of different training groups, it is one family and I think the individuals who make up the team embody that family atmosphere.”Athletes turn to indoor track for training, community