High expectations for spring track season

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Lance Bullerwell and Marco Fajardo practice racing on the track. The spring track season begins on Monday, February 13.
Lance Bullerwell and Marco Fajardo practice racing on the track. The spring track season begins on Monday, February 13.

The 2011-2012 Leesville Track and Field team holds high hopes for the upcoming season. Many athletes are confident that at least a few of the runners will make it to Regional- and maybe even State-level competitions this year.

“We lost Coach McLamb last season, and it definitely had an effect on the team,” said Carson Ellerby, sophomore. This season, the Leesville track team has a new head coach, Michael Grether. His expectations for the team are for it to be “highly competitive.”

“I want to send a dozen or so kids to the state meet,” said Grether. Even though the team has lost two coaches in the course of 2 years and many senior athletes have graduated, Grether still expects between 150 and 200 students to try out for the team.

“Grether is a very organized coach. He had everything planned out for indoor track, and he’s also very articulate,” said Ellerby. “We have talent on both [the short and long distance] sides this season. I think if we practice a lot, we’ll make it to States.”

“I hope that the 4×8 and 4×4 teams can qualify for Regionals this season,” said Grant Przybyla, junior. Last year, the 4×4 team was the only one to qualify for Regionals.

Allie Gallagher, senior, hopes the team will make it to both Regionals and States. “I think the coaches have a lot of potential to make us succeed better than last season. They have more experience in working with the team.”

“Coaching Track and Field is about coaching the whole athlete,” said Grether when asked what he has learned from previous coaching experience and from coaching the indoor track team. “There is a temptation for coaches to only think about their athletes in light of the two hours they spend with them each day: the reality is that these athletes spend 22 hours away from the track. As a coach, for my athletes to be successful they must first have balance with their family, academics, character and health. When all of these things are in place, then the athlete will be in a spot mentally, physically and emotionally to achieve the type of success they desire on the track.”

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Gigi’s had a lot to live up to.

 

A few weeks later, I learned that Gigi’s opened a store in Brier Creek, which is a mere 15 minute drive from my house. Excited to appease my new found fascination with cupcakes, I decided to try this second store out. In contrast, this store was located in an easily accessible shopping mall with ample parking. I optimistically walked into the store, excited for another cupcake munching opportunity. This store was brightly lit, with pink and green walls and large pictures of women and children decorating cupcakes in matching aprons. My skepticism started to set in. I approached the cupcake case this time and saw cupcakes decorated with ample amount of sprinkles, cherries, nuts and even bacon. I purchased the “Midnight Magic.” This chocolate cupcake, in the least, was a disappointment. As I stated before, I am not an icing person, and the cake to icing ratio on this was about 1:2– completely unsatisfactory. I resorted to scraping off half the mound of icing in order to choke down the rest of the cupcake, which was dry. I left the store dismayed wishing the Cupcake Shoppe had opened a closer location instead.
Both stores charge a flat rate of 3 dollars per cupcake, which, admittedly, is probably about a 2 dollar and 75 cent profit for the store.

There is more to a cupcake than a conveniently sized miniature cake– the taste matters more than the decoration. This applies to more than just cupcakes: it’s not about the look, it’s about what’s inside. Funny how something so simple can symbolize something so grand. Maybe that’s why I love cupcakes so much.


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