The Skyline Tiger track team knows they have a target on their backs this year as the defending champs, and they wouldn’t have it any other way.
“We always have a target on our backs,” said senior Madison Davis. “Everybody is always asking what our time is, how we’re feeling today, seeing if they can try to get an edge.”
Opposing teams will need any edge they can find, because the Tigers intend to get right back where they were a year ago.
“Bringing back a lot of the same kids from last year on our track team, that definitely lets us know that we can do it again,” said senior Tyler Swearingin.
The senior-heavy squad has the inherent advantage of familiarity on their side.
“You can definitely tell, relays and stuff, handoffs, we don’t have to restart from step one,” said senior Dylan Mountain. “We all have our steps, and it feels really good to be back at it.”
The group has been “at it” for a while. Much of the team are three sport athletes, and after a state semifinals run in football and second-round state run in basketball, most would see a grind, but the Tigers see consistency.
“Going through football, everything’s kind of the same,” Swearingin said. “We kind of hit the same time with it and did all the same things, and it will put us back where we were.”
That would be, tops in the state.
“We used to look up to other teams last year, before we won the state championship,” Davis said. “Now, those teams look up to us.”
The team sees the difference at meets.
“Kids get excited when they run against our guys,” said head coach Brandon Shelby. “It’s kind of a good measuring stick. We sit there and watch them sometimes and say, you know, that’s pretty cool. You don’t see this a lot, especially at our level. We’re blessed to have kids like that.”
That would be kids intent to take playoff disappointment in football and basketball and channel it onto the track.
“Coming in deep in the playoffs and coming up short is really pushing us to finish this time,” Davis said. “Make sure we go out on top.”
It’s that relentless attitude that makes the Skyline Tigers are Arby’s High School Athletes of the Week.
