According to NBCOlympics, Ancient Greece was the first to race track and field; their reason was to show off their athletic abilities. After thousands of years, kids still have the same mindset – from racing each other at recess in elementary school to running in official races at high school. 

Never been to a track meet? You’re in luck, Brentwood is hosting its annual invitational today after school today. The meet has just recently been renamed after Sophia Rivera, a nationally-ranked javelin thrower for Mizzou who graduated from BHS in 2019. 

WHAT TO EXPECT AT A BHS TRACK MEET

When thinking about track and field, most people forget about the field part. This includes: the long jump, high jump, shot put, discus, pole vault, and javelin. The first two are self-explanatory, the long jump is how far you can jump before hitting the pit, and the high jump is jumping over a horizontal crossbar. Another event that falls in the ‘field’ category is the pole vault. It’s almost exactly the same as the high jump, except the crossbar is way higher, and instead of jumping, you use a pole as leverage to go over the crossbar. The last three events are about how high or far you can go, but the next three are about how far you can throw. Starting with the shot put, the put looks like a little cannonball, and your arm is the cannon. Next is the discus. To best describe this weapon of destruction, simply think of it as a weighted frisbee. Lastly, the most well-known, since it can be seen in many movies, there’s the javelin, which is a light spear that is sharp on both sides, which makes it very aerodynamic. Although there are six field events, BHS does not compete or host the javelin or pole vault. Don’t ask me why; ask Coach Long: “We don’t have enough space.”

On the track side of events, there are sprints, distance, hurdles, and relays. The sprinting events are the 100m, 200m, and 400m. The distance events are the 800m, 1600m, and 3200 meter runs. In hurdling, it’s either 100m or 400m; lastly, there are relays where you have a baton and pass it onto the next person, and the two distances are 100m x 4 and 200m x4.

BRENTWOOD’S 2023 TEAM

This year the track and field team has 21 athletes and their seasons has been off to a good start. As far as who might be state bound, we have some predictions. Last year the 4×100 meter relay made it to state. The team consisted of Arris Harris, Jesse Lane, Nick Phillips, and John Clay. This year the 4×1 team will involve the same people as last year since none of them were seniors and all returned to the team. Junior Arris Harris feels that the 4x1 team has a good chance of making it again. “And who knows,” he added, “I might make it to state on my own even with my ankle.” Harris had ankle surgery after an injury during his fall football season but has been working hard to recover.

As for other events, last year junior Adrian Sabeh qualified for state in the discus, but he is unable to compete this year after having back surgery. Last year’s team also had Katelyn Kimmel and Mya Lucas qualify for state in the triple jump, but those athletes graduated last year.

As for Coach Long’s predictions, he said, “Its too early to tell but I hope everyone makes it.”

Come out today to cheer on the Eagles as they hopefully race to victory. Also, Sophia Rivera will be at the meet, so if you’ve always wanted to meet a nationally-ranked college athlete, today is your day!