Having brought home countless Marin County Athletic League banners, the track team is one of the school’s many successes. The track team is split into many smaller sections, including the sprint, distance and field teams. Coach Earl Downing has been the sprinter coach for four years. Downing enjoys coaching because of the team’s inclusive, hard-working environment.

“[When running track] there’s something for everyone, regardless of skill set or experience,” Downing said.
Downing started coaching because he ran track in college and always wanted to coach later in life. He loved track and wanted to incorporate that into his later years. Coaching was the perfect balance between the sport itself and who he is as a person now.

“I felt I had a lot of experience to share,” Downing said, “I wanted to bring what I had in track and field to other people.”

The sprint team is a very popular option for students who run track. Marco Cleary is a junior on the varsity sprinting team who runs the 100-meter dash as well as the 200 and 400-meter races. Cleary also runs the 4 by 100-meter and 4 by 400-meter relays.

Cleary’s main coach is Coach Downing who helps him during practice and coaches him at meets. Downing has helped Cleary achieve his goals in so many different ways and has been a huge inspiration.

“My sprint coach [Downing] put a lot of faith into me. He always has high hopes for me, and he inspires me to do the best I can,” Cleary said.
Sprinters have relay teams, which is a great way for teammates to work together. Coach Downing’s favorite events are the relays.

“[The relays are] a shared experience. I come from a big family, and being on relay teams continues to remind me of my family experience with a group of people having a shared set of goals. [There is] almost nothing like it,” Downing said.

Through track, students learn valuable life skills, such as hard work and determination. These skills benefit students not only on the track team but in other aspects of their lives after high school.
“There’s measured success in every event. It’s not only exhilarating, fun, and good for your physical life, but in terms of learning how to do something hard now for a payback way later. That’s a skill set that’s [important in life],” Downing said.

Nicole Graydon has been the distance coach for several years now. Not only does she manage the track team, but she also coaches the cross-country team and is a physical education teacher.

“I liked high jump in middle school [and] when I got here, they needed help [coaching track],” Graydon said.
Before coming to Redwood, Graydon was the track coach at Rincon Valley Middle School, coaching over 250 kids.

Due to Graydon’s experience with coaching such a large team, taking on Redwood’s wasn’t too hard for her.

Senior Marley Nacco has been running track since she was a freshman and has been the team captain the past two years. She specializes in the 800 and 1600-meter races. Nacco has been running track since middle school, which influenced her decision to run track in high school. Nacco found the track team super nice and supportive, initially drawing her in. Nacco participates in track and cross country, making Graydon her coach for both sports.

Made up of around 200 kids, the track team can be very challenging. It can be hard for coaches to help each individual for two hours at each practice.

“I make incredibly detailed practice plans for them, and then in those practice plans, they get about an hour to work with the athletes specific to their event,” Graydon said.

Each practice looks a bit different, focusing on various aspects of the events. Mondays are considered “easy days” with small runs and hill sprints, Tuesdays and Thursdays are “workout days” with reps around the track, and Wednesdays and Fridays are morning practices with long runs that range from five to eight miles and strides around the track. This system of practicing gives team members enough time per week to work on all parts of their running.
“We’re utilizing time for warm-ups, band activation, fitness, and then they’re getting time to do event-specific work,” Graydon said.

Both Graydon and Downing inspire their runners every day outside of track. They make sure their runners know they believe in them and want to help make their goals and aspirations come true.

“[Coach Graydon] is the perfect amount of caring for her runners, and also doesn’t let you slack off,” Nacco said.
It can be hard to navigate such a big team, but Graydon and Downing’s teamwork throughout practices and track meets has played a key role in achieving a successful season.

“The good part about having such a big team [is that] it’s such a big environment; we have the most support, and it pushes you to do better,” Cleary said.
Graydon and Downing have worked to create a light-hearted, hardworking community for athletes to come together and do what they love!