As the weather gets colder and the summer activities are ending, the dedicated athletes of Milford High School are still training and working hard thanks to the winter track program, which aims to help athletes who are not doing winter activities to get stronger and faster to gain an edge on the upcoming track season in the spring.

The athletes use the program to gain experience and improve themselves physically and mentally. “I want to get stronger and faster,” Sophomore Jack Lobozinski said.  Makenna Bastionell, a sophomore, states, “I want to get better in shape.”. Coach Ceresa, an assistant coach, said that winter track is a great opportunity for athletes. ”Winter track to me is an opportunity for those who are not involved in a winter sport to come and to get stronger, a little bit faster have some fun and not to be tied down to a every day 2 to 3 hour commitment to practice,” he said.  “With winter track being a flexible after school activity, it gets more and more people to join.”

The winter track experience is more of an individual activity than other sports, but it also builds relationships. “I really like the meets and the team bonding,” Lobodzinski said.

Bastionell said, “ I like it because it’s more self centered and individual.”

Coach Ceresa said the goal of the program is to gradually improve as an individual by working with teammates. “The real key is if athletes come and spend the time to get stronger top to bottom then our training can be more intense and they will benefit from our specific everyday training that we will do in the spring,” he said.

This is Coach Ceresa’s first year back with winter track, though he coached track in the spring for 20 years before becoming the athletic director. Ceresa retired from Huron Valley last year and started coaching track last spring. We have seen as many as 50%-60% of the team show up three days a week,” he said.  “We have seen people grow and mature and really realize what their bodies can do. Because we make it fun and we make it stress free, it doesn’t mean that we don’t focus on getting better, because we are. The experience is what most of the athletes want from this program. “Winter track will help me get in shape for the spring,” Bastionell said. One benefit of winter track is the races and the athletes go to these races to get a feel of what to expect in the spring.