What’s recently happened?
Munster High School (MHS) held its 42nd Annual Ed Woodrick Track and Field Invitational on April 8. 10 schools attended, but the Munster girls and Lowell High School boys placed first overall.
However, the overall goal of the track season is to send as many people as possible to State on June 2.
“To ensure we make it to State, everyone always gives it their all during practice and at meets,” senior Khtab Ishtawi said. “The rest of the team is very supportive as well, always cheering while we race.”
Ishtawi joined track in sixth grade and stuck with it through high school. He partakes in a multitude of events and pushes himself each season to try something new.
“I am pushed to do different events by myself,” Ishtawi said. “If it means scoring points, then I’ll do them. While I may be exhausted during practices and meets, my teammates and coaches really keep me going. While racing, I am locked in and only thinking about reaching the finish.”
Charlie Uidl, junior, hopes to improve her track skills this season and feels motivated by her coaches to do so.
“I am working to improve my block starts, and I want to jump farther in my long jumps,” Uidl said. “It is honestly just a mental game to stay focused. The coaches also prioritize us and recognize our improvements, so it is encouraging. I have high hopes for the whole team this season.”
What’s coming up?
Accommodating to the rainy spring weather, the softball and baseball teams have had to rearrange and reschedule many of their games.
The baseball team had a rescheduled game at home on April 8 against Boone Grove High School. The team took a tough loss with a score of 2-13. The next upcoming game for the team will be April 10 against Andrean High School.
The softball team had a doubleheader at Penn High School on April 8. Its first game was a loss with a score of 7-3. For the second game, the team took the win with a score of 4-3. The next upcoming game for the team will be April 10 against Kankakee Valley High School.
“I am looking forward to having a successful winning season,” Emily Siurek, junior, said. “I hope to get 100 strikeouts for pitching, be conference champs, go far during the postseason, and make many memories with the team.”
Staff spotlight:
Gaining a new set of coaches this season, the MHS track team is eager to jumpstart its season.
“I am excited for this season because this new coaching staff is young, fresh, vibrant, and willing to work hard together,” Koula Amanatidis, one of the new coaches, said.
Amanatidis is completely new to the district as a whole this year. She came from her old school in Texas where she coached track as well.
“I couldn’t wait to get back into coaching here,” Amanatidis said. “Track is fun to coach because you get to be outside. When the team goes outside, you can see them feel more alive. The sun is out, you feel good, and you perform better.”
Amanatidis mostly helps coach shot put, discus, and high jump but tries her best to push the entire team to reach its personal goals and achievements.
“Our goal is to teach the team to be competitive, to work hard, and to learn to work together,” Amanatidis said. “It is not just about learning to work together but also them knowing the personal steps they need to take to do better as an individual.”
Student spotlight:
Anxiously waiting for her name to be announced at the National-qualifying speech competition, held on March 4 at Bishop Noll Institute, Grace Harris, junior, felt her hard work pay off when she heard her name in the top two for the Programmed Oral Interpretation division. Being in the top two secures her a spot for Nationals in June.
“It is really exciting to have been able to qualify,” Harris said. “I have been to Nationals one time, but it was online, so the experience of getting to actually go will be new. I am excited to have this opportunity to compete at Nationals in-person.”
The speech piece that Harris qualified with, “Every Body is Perfect,” is very meaningful to her, and she stresses its powerful overall message for all women.
“The piece shows that society has these sometimes unreachable standards, and we as girls are taught to try to listen and live up to those standards from such an early age,” Harris said. “A character of mine goes through having an eating disorder starting at just 10 years old. It really gives insight to how much pressure is put on women throughout their entire lives. The message is to try not to let these standards dictate how you live your life and instead be able to grow and love your body for all that is.”
Within the piece, Harris switches in and out of multiple characters. She was able to master the character switches by working with two coaches that have previous experience with coaching the piece. She plans to continue working on and perfecting her piece before Nationals.
“A serious weakness I have is going too fast, so I need to really think about the things I am saying and what they mean,” Harris said. “I have 10 minutes to do my whole piece, and I have been timing eight minutes, so I have some definite room to slow down. I will continue going through and running my piece to ensure I am well-prepared.”
Harris has enjoyed this speech season and is looking forward to taking on many more competitions with her teammates.
“Like every season, the bond you get to have with the other teammates is just so incredible,” Harris said. “I love being around all the speech people; they’re all so wonderful and truly good people. I also love competing, and some of my best memories from speech come from competitions. I love the down time we get because we have some of the best conversations during that time.”