The Lafayette Track season has officially begun, and with a bang. This season, around 115 athletes are competing for the Lafayette track team. This is the highest number of athletes ever to compete for this team. While the upcoming season looks to be a major success, The Lafayette Times interviewed Head Coach Leslie Davis about the team goals for this season and any possible challenges that may prevent them from being achieved. Davis first described the Generals’ lofty goals for the upcoming season. “Our goals are to pretty much always make a run at City and Regionals. Also, to continue our successes at State by getting more and more kids to qualify throughout our season,” Davis said. “While we are hoping to achieve this, the most important goal for us is to have fun together and to build community with each other through this team.” To accomplish these goals, the Generals focus on a couple of things, such as mental toughness and the team community. “Compared to some of the earlier seasons, currently we have tons of new freshmen, some of which did middle school track and some that didn’t. Because of this, one of our big focuses is on teaching these new athletes how the sport works and more of the fundamentals of track and field,” Davis explained. “Along with that, this season, we will focus more on using our team culture we have been building and use that to fuel the mental toughness from this sport and use it during competitions,” she continued. Currently, at Lafayette, track and field athletes are not allowed to be on the track because of the new turf renovation. While this can cause a few setbacks for the team and the upcoming season, the Generals and their coaches have found ways to still get in the conditioning and practice they need to achieve a successful season. “It’s tough not having access to a track right now, but our team and school [are] flexible, so they understand if we need to [practice] in the band lot or sometimes even in the school hallways,” Davis said. “At Lafayette track, we are very lucky that we have a tight-knit track community, so it’s a blessing that other schools like Henry Clay and Tates Creek are willing to let us practice on their track and field for a couple of days this season.” The renovation is difficult for some athletes. “With distance runners, it’s not really an issue because we can just send them off to run anywhere, but currently, we [cannot] practice in long jump pits or have a sprinter practice with a block. So a long jumper that’s never been on the long jump and a sprinter that’s never been able to come off the blocks is going to have a few inconveniences,” described Davis. “But no matter, we will still be able to do our best as a team and get as much practice as needed, even if it might look a little different in the first couple [of] weeks,” she added. While the first couple of meets may be a learning curve for the team, when looking long-term at the renovation, it is very important to have good surfaces to practice and compete on. If Lafayette is known for having a “bad track,” no one will enjoy coming to Lafayette to compete, and that is not something our school wants to be known for. People will be excited to compete at Lafayette if we have a nice track and turf. Overall, the coaches and athletes are excited about the season. A big group of athletes is willing to work and make an effort to be on this team this year. “I am excited to see this group exceed expectations and the upperclassmen play leadership roles for this upcoming freshman. I feel like this season is going to be incredible despite some of the difficulties, and as a team, I can say we can’t wait to start competing,” said Coach Davis.