The Skyline High School (SHS) track and field team competed against Saline High School and Dexter High School (DHS) on Tuesday, April 12. Community High School (CHS) students Lydia Cocciolone, Mason Jett, Natalie Kessler, Allison Mayer, Ailish Killbride and Christopher Van Lent competed for SHS.
Both SHS teams lost their respective meets, the women’s team scoring 16.5 out of 137 points against Saline High School and 24.5 points against DHS. The men’s team scored 15.5 points against Saline High School and 39 points against DHS. Teams are awarded points for placing in each event: three points for first, two points for second, and one point for third.
Mason Jett, CHS sophomore, ran four events, the 3200 relay, the mile, the two mile and the 1600 meter relay. Of the events he ran, the two-mile was Jett’s least favorite. However, at the end of the race Jett successfully outkicked one of his teammates, redeeming some of the unpleasantness of the event.
Natalie Kessler, CHS junior, ran the 800 meters and the 1600 meter relay. She also competed in the pole vault and long jump events. Jett and Kessler expressed opposite sentiments regarding the 1600 meter relay. Although the relay was painful for Jett, it ended up being his favorite event of the meet. It was the opposite for Kessler.
“The [1600 meter relay] did not go well,” Kessler said. “I was anchoring, so I ran the last leg, and I dropped the baton—because my hands were so cold it just fell right out, and then I fumbled with it, and then it fell way on the infield. It was so embarrassing.”
Kessler placed first in the open 800 meter race, running her fastest time of the season, 2:25.80. She hopes to run the state qualifying time of 2:19 by the end of the season. In the 1600 meter relay, she’s decidedly less motivated and hopes to stop running the event in the future.
Both Kessler and Jett run track mainly due to pressure from their parents.
“My dad makes me,” Jett said. “He’s a runner, and I don’t do any other sports, so I’m stuck with track.”
However, Jett and Kessler agree that their teammates are a positive about the sport.
“My teammates are great,” Jett said. “The best.”
He reflects fondly on the times when he and his teammates are able to mess around and not take themselves too seriously. At this past meet, a teammate brought a megaphone they had bought off of Amazon.
“[Messing around with the megaphone was] probably the highlight for me,” Jett said.