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By Bhagya Pushkaran – Sports –
For Track and Field, athletes with a passion for running, jumping, and throwing gather to compete against other fellow athletes, and for Lincoln High, that passion runs deep, winning us gold and creating extraordinary talent. These athletes have worked hard, not only keeping up their grades to compete, but train on and off the track. Talent like this doesn’t come just by mere practice, but with dedication and motivation.

Sophomore Darius Luff [on the cover] has a gift for hurdles, going to State his freshman year and getting 2nd place, only to lose by .006 seconds, but that pushed Luff more towards his goals. “I just think it pushed me to work harder this year and made me want to win more,” said Luff. Luff has a list of impressive achievements, nabing 1st place almost every meet for 110 hurdles, and being his own personal time. “I ran a 14.32 [seconds] in the 110, and I’ve only lost once, so I guess that’s an achievement. I think I’m doing good. I’m setting myself up to place well at state,” said Luff. Success like this doesn’t come just like that, Luff had worked hard off-season to get where he is. “I worked in the summer and I trained really hard in the winter. I have a drive to win,” said Luff. Luff’s statistics for the season in hurdles leading Class A in the 110 High Hurdles with a time of 14.32, and 39:56 in the 300 Intermediate Hurdles

Head Coach Bob White talked about Luff’s track season this year. “Darius has had a memorable season so far, leading into Districts and State, he should have a season that most dream about,” said White. White also talked about Darius not only on the track, but in the classroom too. “Darius is one of the state leaders in the hurdles.  He is performing also in the classroom as a student/academician,” said White.

Senior Caleb Brown [on the cover] has had an extraordinary season, breaking track and school records, but also beating his own personal records. “Our 4×100 team broke the school record here at Lincoln High, 42.57 seconds, and we broke the meet record too with the same time,” said Brown. “I ran my fastest 100 meter dash I’ve ever ran before, and also for my 200 meter dash this year,” said Brown. Brown has done a lot of training to accomplish such feats, and his love for running had started back in elementary school, with a talent of being fast. “Yeah, I’ve been running track actually since 5th grade. I grew up loving to run and I’ve always had the ability to run fast, so every since 5th grade, I’ve been running track.” Brown’s statistics for track this season was leading Class A in the 100 Meters with a time of 10.71 and 22.05 in the 200 meters.

White is grateful for a great athlete like Brown. “Caleb is only one of many sprinters that LHS has been fortunate to have this spring,” White said. An athlete like Brown who has been exceptional on the track has been seen by many colleges for track. “Caleb is preparing to graduate, he is being recruited by Hastings College and the University of Nebraska for Track,” White said.

Senior Raelynn Burkinshaw has done track all 4 years of her high school career, and leading her 4×100 relay team to improve. “The relay, we’ve dropped our time a lot. My goal was to run a faster time than previous years, and I accomplished that by almost half a second,” said Burkinshaw. Her team of (names) work hard to drop their times and work together. “I think we’ve been doing good. Like I said, we’ve dropped our times. We’re working together. If we make a mistake, we brush it off and keep working,” said Burkinshaw. Reflecting back at her years of track with LHS, she had some words on how she felt she had improved throughout her time here. “I know my times have dropped. I feel like I have gotten more confident in my ability to do things. With sprints for example, you can’t put so much pressure on yourself to do good, it’s more about having fun,” said Burkinshaw.

White talked about Burkinshaw’s overall time with LHS Track and Field, and how she has progressed over her 4 years of high school. “Raelynn Burkinshaw is an example of a senior who has worked extremely hard over her 4 years with the program and has become on of the best sprinters and leaders on our girls team,” said White. Burkinshaw’s stats for the season was with a time of 13.28 in the 100 Meters and 27.98 in the 200 Meters.

State for Track and Field is on May 19th and 20th, and 24 LHS athletes qualified for it. “In looking back to this season, it has been challenging.  Numerous athletes who could have aided the team in different events chose not to meet the team’s expectations of academics and attendance. Also, both the Mens and Womens teams have had a successful season going into the District Meet,” said White.