For the first time in indoor track history at Ipswich High School, the sprinting medley team is going to nationals! This team, consisting of four IHS girls made it to nationals last spring in outdoor track. They are excited to show everyone their new skills, since improving from last year.

This incredible team consists of Seniors Michaela Hedderman, Emily Demarco and Juniors Carolina Ivanov and Amanda Recupero. In order to qualify for nationals the team had to get a time of at least 4:16, but amazingly they managed to get a time of 4:13 at their last meet. Coach Bennett is very proud of their accomplishments and said “It’s awesome to have a team make it to nationals; they work hard and it’s a good reward for the amount of effort they put into this season.” Talking with Michaela Hedderman, she said, “Last year, we placed 24th out of the whole country!”, which is an amazing accomplishment, since the team is, coming from such a small town.

Getting ready for nationals has many little steps. Fundraising takes a big part when it comes down to traveling to different states. These girls are very lucky to be able to go to nationals. Having such a great community to support them makes it a lot easier to fundraise. Michaela said “Last year we made a go-fund-me page; we not only distributed posters about the page in local stores and businesses, we also put an article in the Ipswich Chronicle saying we were trying to raise money, and explaining ways to help donate.” This year, they have already done some fundraisers, including a movie night, concession stands at JV track meets, and a run on New Year’s day. This year the nationals is in New York so it will not be as much money since they don’t have to fly. As far as getting ready for the big day, Coach Bennett said “Same practices, nothing’s really different.. it’s really up to the girls and how they place in the long run.”

Nationals for track is competing against the entire country, but since not everyone can qualify, the girls team will probably be competing with around 50 teams. Emily Demarco said “I think we will place a lot better this year, since we are all returning teammates and have also been training, making us faster all together. I am hoping for at least top 15.” Since all of them have competed before, they know what needs to happen to do a lot better this year. All of them have worked really hard throughout the summer to have a successful season and clearly that long hard work has paid off. Since this is Emily and Michaela’s last season on the team, the advice they leave for the underclassmen is, “Work extremely hard. The only way to get better is to stay dedicated to the sport.” By setting goals and doing anything they can to reach them, they are headed in the right direction! It’s amazing how hard they have worked to get to where they are now. Not just stopping after they made it to nationals once, the Girls Sprinting Medley Team continues to push themselves to a greater success in the future.