Pow! The gun goes off. And just like that, our Air Academy seniors are off to the races of adulthood. Air Academy’s Track and Field team is made up of a high percentage of senior athletes, all of whom will be equally missed.

Let’s start with our long distance runners. Prior to this 2017 season, Air Academy Cross Country had two senior state champions, Maria Mettler and Ethan Powell. Ethan holds one of the top five current mile times. Maria is in the same boat, both have a shot at winning state this year for long distance in this event along with the 3200 meters (2 miles). Once they leave though, distance runners who are either freshmen, sophomores, or juniors are going to have big running flats to fill. The second senior girl is Julia Gaubatz. Fast and very intelligent (Julia is headed to MIT in the fall), she was voted one of the most talented students by the Colorado Gazette. For the boys, there is Trent Shimada, Ian Lecloux, and Roman Philson. I asked Roman if he would miss running races, he replied, “It’s a bittersweet moment, I don’t have to race anymore but at the same time I don’t get to race anymore.” Trent, Ian, and Roman were probably the best group of clowns on the team. Making jokes about how much they hate running or organizing snowball ambushes on the girls, these were the guys to run with.

As for sprinters, high jumpers, and throwers, there are plenty more of record-breaking seniors that we are going to miss. Nick Chappy, Skylar Smoker, and Zach Hammer represented the boy sprinters. Nick and Skylar hold some of the fastest times for the 100 meter, 200 meter, 400 meter, 110 hurdles, and 300 hurdles. This being Zach’s first year allowed for him follow in these guys footsteps and be part of the 4 by 100 team. As for girls sprinters, we had Maddie Sexton, Katlyn McCubbin, and Cameron Valdez. These girls had some of the best camaraderie among the girl sprinters. This was the dream team for the 4 by 200 and 4 by 100, placing High in almost all of their meets and helping the girl track team take first in multiple meets. Girls throwing, both in shot-put and discus, was dominated by Katelin Gallegos. Placing first and second in all of her Varsity meets, she holds a high rank for the state. Taryn Wingett, a second senior thrower, is quite the character. Her attitude towards track is similar to our three distance amigos, light-hearted, fun, and ready to compete hard.

Long and high jumpers consist of Allyson Stanley and Andrew Buescher. This being Andrew’s first year of track made him want to be a sprinter. However, after discovering incredible jumping skills he switched to long jumping to better represent himself. Allyson can no doubt take the cake for being the most encouraging member of the team. Whether it was competing at meets or warming up for practice, she was always there to encourage everyone.

Personally, all these seniors have impacted my life in different ways, mainly those in distance running. They all have been so supportive and encouraging to me that I almost began to enjoy running. I am going to miss all of them and I wish them all luck at their future schools! Sure, Air Academy is going to miss you guys for your performances, but the rest of us are going to miss you for your greatness as human beings.