Some of the success for this season’s Northwestern track and field team may stem from what happened last fall in cross country. The Tiger boys cross country team finished third at states last season and coach Chuck Groller is hoping that the success enjoyed there will translate into success in the distance events this spring.

The other buzz this spring centers around the Northwestern Lehigh relay teams, which return many of their top runners.

While cross country and distance running in track are generally the same, there are some differences in training techniques that the runners go through because of different terrains.

“With cross country, you can have some courses with a lot of hills and then others that are very flat and like running on a track,” said junior Sam Bower, who was a member of the cross-country team last fall. “I train basically the same for both except that as it gets closer to track season, I do some different workouts to develop the speed that I need for track because it’s a much shorter race.”

The 4x800-meter relay team finished fourth in the Colonial League championship last season and sixth at districts. The Tigers’ 4x400-meter relay team placed fifth at the league meet.

Both squads return all four runners with the 4x800 team featuring seniors Cole Chukoski and Nate Vincent paired with juniors Bower and Matthew Santana. In the 4x400 relay, this year’s team returns seniors Josh Heilman, Jackson Moyes and Dominic Yeakel with junior Evan Anderson also back. The 4x100-meter relay team finished third in leagues last year and has Anderson and Heilman back this season.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that spring athletes lost a season of high school sports because of COVID. Bower, who is a junior this season, remembers it well, but he has still been able to put together strong times and is looking to up his game again this season.

“Really, last year was my first year of track because my ninth-grade season was canceled because of COVID,” said Bower. “I set time goals, but I don’t really focus on setting goals for medals or where I finish because I can’t really control that. For the 3200 I want to get under 10 minutes and in the 1600 I want to finish around 4:30.”

Some may not realize the strategy that goes into a track and field meet. The coaches often need to change things up in one event and look to move runners into some unfamiliar situations.

Groller is fortunate because he has several athletes that he can mix-and-match and they also don’t mind filling some holes. Bower is one of the guys that never quite knows where he will find himself.

“We can mix some guys and move them around a little,” Groller said. “We have put Sam in the 400 numerous times because usually a good 800 runner is a good 400 runner. It really is just a matter of where we need the points and how we want to arrange things on a certain day.”

A few years ago the enrollment at Northwestern Lehigh rose and it meant that track and field was bumped up to the 3A classification. The problem is that while they were just over the limit for 2A, most of the other schools in 3A are near the top enrollment for that level. That leaves the Tigers in a situation where they finish higher in the Colonial League championship than they do in districts. For instance, last season the boys’ team finished 7-3 and placed fourth in the league championship. In districts they placed seventh.

While a lower enrollment is not necessarily a good thing, it does mean that next season Northwestern Lehigh will go back to competing at the 2A level.

“We are in 3A again this year and it gets a little tough in districts, but we usually do have a good showing,” said Groller. “Next year we go back down to 2A and that should help us, although it doesn’t do anything for our seniors this year. When we were 2A before we used to take 10 or 14 athletes to states and now, we take some, but it is on the low side.”