Through your high school years, you make a lot of memories. These memories are made in many different ways. These memories can be made from the different classes you take, the times you hang out with your friends in and outside of school, and during the sports or after-school activities you are involved in. One of my favorite memories of high school so far is from a sport I do. It was my sophomore year when my track team won the sectional championship. 

It was my sophomore year, and the team came back pretty strong after a year of covid. The year before our season had got caught off right before our first meet due to covid. Covid began my freshman year. My freshman year we had been excited for our season because our team was really strong. We had lots of potential to possibly win sectionals my freshman year. During my sophomore year, our coach put a lot of hard work into looking over the statistics of other teams and putting us in events that would benefit our team. This helped a lot especially when it came down to sectional time. He had calculated all the times we had to get in our events for us to win. He had also mentally prepared us throughout the whole season. I think one of the biggest things that helped us win was our confidence. Our coach had told us to go into sectionals with the same attitude we would have if it were a home meet. 

On the bus, we were all pretty excited to go give it our all. I was just competing in the high jump this year but was excited and nervous all at the same time to do so. The sectional meet took place at Western High School that year. We started with a team warm-up, and then went to our events or back to camp. During the meet we all cheered and mentally pushed each other. Our team had set a lot of personal records during this sectional. The scores were very close at the end of the meet and it all relied on the people throwing shot put. It was us against Western for first place. Our competitors in the shot put were Avery Parker and Haley Miller. All the teams gathered around to watch the throwing. This was pretty nerve-racking for everyone throwing shot put, because typically throwers don’t get much of an audience. 

The only person who knew we won was Kinsey Minnen and our coaches. Kinsey has been injured this season so she was moved to manager. The whole meet she had been keeping track of everyone’s times and what they placed. All the teams gathered around the football field to hear the final scores. Lewis Cass gathered around a field goal and patiently waited to hear our final placing. We all huddled in a circle together and held hands. When they called off Western as placing second place we all got excited, but kept our cool until we were called off to show good sportsmanship. When they called who was first place we all cheered, hugged, and jumped up and down. After that, we all took pictures with the trophy that we earned. On our way home we got a police escort. During the police escort, people sat outside their homes and cheered for us. 

This moment was one that I will always remember from high school. The moment our names were called it felt like how it does in American high school movies. The most exciting part of all of it was that our picture got to be on the Lewis Cass wall. This excited me because the picture will be up there in the future when I have children. I will get to show my children about the time my team won sectionals. This moment also showed me how hard work pays off. Seeing all the work throughout the season of the athletes who placed and how much work the coaches put into it all.