This month’s Athlete of the Month is junior Liz Weis.  Weis is primarily a soccer player that will be continuing to play at Washington State University.  However, she has proved herself to be a key point scorer for the CHS track team in her first season.  Track is a great cross-training opportunity for soccer players, so we caught up with Weis to hear her opinions on these new experiences in track.

Q1: How has participating on the track team been different from the soccer team?

A1: I have played soccer for so long and it is very familiar.  Running track has forced me to step out of my comfort zone and try something different.

Q2: What made you decide to do track?

A2: I am taking it as an opportunity to better myself in soccer considering that is what I am pursuing collegiately.  Also, people have been pestering me to run track since I was a freshman. It has been a successful experience so far.

Q3: Soccer has the basic team atmosphere but track does not; how does that affect you?

A3: A common misconception about track is that does not have a team atmosphere because you run as an individual athlete.  However, everyone pushes one another to jump and throw further distances and run faster times.

Q4: What are your individual goals for the rest of the season?

A4: To be able to see myself improve throughout the rest of the season.  The season started off really well for me and I’m excited to see what happens when I get more experience.  This being my first year participating on the track team has made getting faster easier as I understand more and more about the sport.

Q5: What are your team goals for the rest of the season?

A5: Hopefully to be district champions.  The track program takes great pride in putting years up on the banners in the gym every year.  The past couple of years the boys have been putting the years up, but this year it’s the girls year.

Q6: What is your favorite track memory?

A6: Running PA number three for our first attempt at the DMR [Distance Medley Relay] during indoor track.  This was the first time that we could run it and it was very nice for us to do so well. We did not expect to do that well, for our first and only chance to qualify for States.  

Q7: What is your favorite soccer memory?

A7: When the team played Red Land at home this past season.  We won seven to one and I scored two goals. However, it was a very solid team performance where everything just clicked.  It was a very effective win that was definitely the highlight of the season.