This girls’ 2025 AHS track season started off strong on February 24th, 2025, when they had their first meet of the season at Model High School. Their first invitational meet was on March 8th, where the girls’ team won 1st place overall. The high school team has been training since the beginning of the second semester, and are prepared to take on this last challenge of the season, along with their coach. Coach Arp, the girls track team coach this year, is a mentally challenging coach who is always pushing the girls to be the best they can be. She not only wants her runners to win, but she pushes them to PR more than anything else. She has been coaching the girls Armuchee track team for a few years and almost every single year, she has had runners qualify for State.
This year, the AHS track meet held their very first home meet in 25 years after our old track got renovated into a track suitable to run competitive races on. Grace Fellows, junior, said, “The first home meet we had was the best, in my opinion, because it was super fun and our hurdle crew was really fast. I got to walk wherever I wanted since it’s our track, I got to hang out with my friends, and a lot of friends from school came to watch.” Grace runs the 300 meter hurdles and the 4×800 meter relay as well as long jump and has been doing track since her 5th grade year. Her PR in the 300 meter hurdles is around 49 seconds, although she said she hasn’t beat her personal record this season due to her hip and other injuries. Ella Dehart, freshman, hurdler, and sprinter, said, “My favorite meets are the home ones we’ve had this year. They’re just super chill and everyone got along really well and I got to connect with a lot of people I’ve raced with before from different schools. I also liked that my friends at school could see me run at a meet for once.” The home track meet was a huge success, with the girls winning 2nd overall in the meet.
On April 3rd, the second home track meet of the season, the seniors on the Armuchee track team were celebrated. The night was special for the seniors as they each got their moment of glory as their efforts over the past years on the team were recognized. The rest of the team all helped to make candy jars to give to the seniors and painted posters with the seniors’ names on them, while members of the Key Club helped hang up the posters. The seniors recognized on the girls’ team were Sophie Thacker, Maggie Dillard, Sherri Torres, Cailyn Poole, and Caroline Fletcher. Maggie Dillard, senior, says, “The senior night was super fun. We knew that it was happening, but the team surprised us with the candy jars. They were so cute and unexpected, I loved it.”
State is coming up in just a few short weeks, on the weekend of May 9th and 10th, and the girls are really excited about it. Sophie Thacker, a senior who is qualifying for state this year in the 800 meter race, said, “I’ve been pushing myself for years by doing a lot of things that could improve my running and physical health, like eating more proteins for practice, running at shorter faster distances, and running on different terrains, and sometimes, I still think of that girl who just joined track for fun. Now look at me.” The girls track team has a lot of advice for young runners. Kallie Goetz, freshman, said, “Just keep running. Find some motivation, and think about how you want to feel after your race. Do you want to feel accomplished, or do you want to feel like you could have done more?”
A lot of the girls who just recently joined the team this year did track for different reasons. Maggie Dillard, senior, said, “I joined track because I wanted something to do with my friends in the last season of high school.” Kallie Goetz, freshman, said, “I joined the track team so I could improve my endurance, strength, and health for the other school sport I do in the fall, like competition cheer.”
The girls track team this year has overall improved in a lot of the events, with many runners placing very high in a lot of the races. With Regions, Sectionals, and State arriving in the next 3 weeks, these girls are working hard to improve times and motivate themselves for the three most important races of the season.
