by Montasia Braxton
On the Blue Devil outdoor track team, the bond is built by the passing of the baton in the relay races.
Senior co-captain Braxton Harris said that communication is nonverbal: it’s all in the hands. During the relay race, the baton must be passed in a smooth and quick fashion. Otherwise, the entire race could be lost.
Sophomore runner Akyla Thombs participates in the 100-meter, shot put and distance races. She said that the person passing the baton determines the smoothness of the exchange.
“With track you do have to have a lot of trust in your teammates because it is an individual sport, but you’re still working together to place high in the relay and gain respect from other teams,” Akyla said.
Sophomore runner Tyrese Williams, who runs the 4 x 1, 100 and 400-meter races, said passing the baton is all about trust.
When we do relays and hand off the baton to each other, we have a lot of trust in the person we’re handing off to. And that’s how you form a bond,” Tyrese said.
He recalled a time when he ran a relay with a runner he didn’t know.
“I didn’t know how good he would do, and he probably was thinking the same thing about me. When I went to pass the baton to him, it fell. We didn’t place well at all,” Tyrese said
Sophomore Justin Stafford participates in shot put and the 4 x 1, 100-meter race. He said that a dropped baton that rolls into another lane is a disqualification, and bad passes increase the running time.
Junior Trey Scott, who runs the 4 x 4, 4 x 8, and 400-meter races, said that it’s all on the runners to get the job done in the relay.
“You don’t want to have any doubt that they would lose the race for you,” Trey said.
Runners said it’s easier to hand off the baton than to receive it.
“It’s harder for the person getting the baton because they have to depend on the person handing it,” Akyla said.
“It takes a lot of trust in the person behind you,” Justin said.
Sophomore runner Kayla Dejesus said that her favorite thing about running track is bonding with the other people on the team.
“We have a lot of good talent on the track team, and people make it to states and nationals,” Kayla said.
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