By Anayelly Juarez and Brandon Cisneros

Low temperatures, weeks of hard work, meets, keeping up with schoolwork, and let’s not forget about keeping up with a social life. All of these are things that the 2016-2017 Winter Track and Field girls had to deal with throughout their season.

Losing many of their graduating seniors last year must’ve hurt them, but not even that stopped them from giving it their all this season.

“We’re doing okay, we have a young team, we’re working hard, they put in a lot of time and effort,” said Coach Grant.

Though the girls this season have had some losses, they were able to pick themselves up and show others what Passaic is made of. “It’s always about improving your times and improving your distances, so that’s the key it’s always about getting better and I believe the girls are doing that,” Coach Grant added.

The girls have had ten meets this season, which resulted in many accomplishments. Julissa Osorio, a junior who has been in the Winter Track and Field program at PHS for her second season said “The first meet for me was personally good, I hit new times for both the 800 and the mile. I placed individually and as a team in the mile too.” Improvement has been shown a lot throughout the years of the program and will only grow stronger.

In the Big North Championships, runners Merelin Ponce, Michelle Contreras, Diana Romero, and Julissa Osorio placed fifth. Manuela Carabello placed sixth in the 800 race. Runners Michelle Contreras, Monserrat Cordova, Rockaya N’Doye, and Manuela Caraballo placed fourth in the 4×400.

The cold has never stopped the girls from putting in work, whether it was in the weight room, in the halls of the schools, or on the track. With the girls still training and looking ahead to what’s in store for them this season, we can be sure to be hearing from them soon.