Taking off: track and field holds tryouts for the first time

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PHOTO: Track and field sprinters warm up for tryouts with a few exercises.

By Allyson Kang,

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

This year, 218 students have signed up to participate in the Davis High track and field team’s first ever tryouts. From them, the coaches will form a final team of around 150 to 200.

Tryouts began on Feb. 4 and will continue until Feb. 7.

The first day of tryouts started with head coach Spencer Elliott speaking out to the large group of students, reminding them about divisions and introducing them to the track season. They then transitioned into warm ups and practices.

“We’ve never done this before… So as coaches, we’re just going to do our best to assess a large amount of people in a short amount of time… in a way that’s fair and objective and transparent,” Elliott said.

Elliott believes that in past years, part of the team culture had started to diminish with the growing number of members. To combat this, the track and field coaches have starting holding tryouts with the hope that the new cuts will eliminate or discourage those that join for the wrong reasons.

LISTEN to Elliott explain the reason for cuts on the track team this year:

Sophomore Esther Lee, a returning track athlete, believes that the tryouts are a good idea. However, she has heard that a large amount of people “aren’t happy about it because they’re going to have to actually try now.”

LISTEN to sophomore Esther Lee’s opinion on track tryouts.

For those that are cut and still wish to contribute to the team, there will be an extended tryout that they can apply for.