FHS Indoor Track

Written by: Zoe Kelliehan

Girls and Boys track will start their indoor season December 1st, with their first meet being December 8th, 2025.  Tryouts will happen on the track outside, Coaches will take time trials to then see which event people are fit to run at meets. If you throw or jump it's likewise. Students who enjoy running will try out, in hopes to get faster and better. The team is led by Jason Yanchuck, the girls head coach; Dashaun Gourdine, the boys head coach; and Shaunte Quinones, the assistant coach. 

Track and Field has been a sport at Franklin High School for the last 36 years, and as a team, members have grown and evolved, with there being multiple different athletes that have gone D1, D2 and D3 since then.  Track has about 48 different events including field events, including running events (100m, 200m, etc.), jumping events (Long Jump, High Jump, etc.) and throwing events (Shot Put, Javelin, etc.). Most people think track is just about running and being fast, but its not that simple. It takes dedication and discipline that only some might have.

The workouts for track can really tear you down and make you really rethink life. Depending on the day, the workout can vary. A day before a meet we usually just work on stretching, form and our starts, because it wouldn’t make much sense to do a full workout the day before a meet. On a day where we don’t have a meet until later on in the week , the sprinters will do anything from a 100m, to a 500m, with the workout being repeated of any meter or doing ladders.

Liana, UC 9th grade stated, “The hardest workout was probably 6 - 10 x 400m at race pace with 90s rest in between, I barely ate anything that day and I barely drank any water.”

Alex, FHS 11th grader said, "one time I ran what you would call a broken 800 which is 300m + 200m + 300m with 30s rest, it was hard for me because we were going at race pace with only 30s in between reps.” 

“Coach Quinones, FHS gym teacher, added that the coaches "don't choose workouts randomly, [they] base it on a few things like the event groups, depending on if [they] have sprinters, mid-distance, or long distance. Time of the season matters too. For example, in the beginning of the season, we did a lot of 200m and 300m to get [the sprinters] in shape".

As a runner myself, one of the hardest workouts I've done over the 3 years I've been running is a 5x600s with 20-30s rest . It was bad because I was just getting in shape and there was basically no rest but best believe I still got the workout done. 

Franklin High School has had some incredible athletes have gone D1, due to our coaches putting in so much time to make their craft better. They take time with each individual athlete to make sure they feel seen , along with growing and getting better at the same time. Coaches are sure that the athletes are maintaining their grade while still balancing being an athlete at the same time.  Without track, Arden Grey may not have been where she is at Hampton University and Qiora Rollins where she is at Towson University.