Bigfork Middle School has strong track seasons

With about 80 kids initially going out

for the team this spring and about 60 making it through the season,

Bigfork Middle School had a big increase in its track and field

roster.

“A lot of eighth-graders came out for

the first time,” said Jessica Johnson, who is the middle school’s

head track coach. “I think it was mostly due to kids who were on

the team last year encouraging more kids to participate this

year.”

The larger team meant that Johnson was

able to have multiple athletes compete in each event, which helped

with their overall success.

“The atmosphere is full of energy (with

a large team),” Johnson said.

The increase in numbers came with some

drawbacks, though.

“It is definitely a challenge to

facilitate practice with so many athletes and only three coaches,”

Johnson said. “With such a variety of events it’s very difficult to

focus on individuals and their events.”

Despite the high athlete-to-coach

ratio, the Bigfork athletes found success and improvement through

their hard work and dedication to the sport.

“As with every season, the athletes who

put in the energy and effort improve significantly throughout the

season,” Johnson said. “At this level there is an incredible

learning curve with the technical events. In addition, their

conditioning always improves greatly as the season progresses, so

we see big drops in their times as well.”

Johnson said that looking back, one the

things she is most impressed with is the progression of this year’s

eighth-graders.

“I think what sticks out in my mind is

the amount of improvement that I’ve seen in this group of

eighth-graders since their sixth-grade year. It’s pretty

incredible,” Johnson said.

The coach also said she was happy to

see her team learn to work together and support each other.

“It was really neat to see a group of

Bigfork athletes lined up along the track supporting their

teammates,” Johnson said. “It was a fun season and a neat group of

athletes.”