Melissa Nugent ‘25
In recent years, St. Andrew’s Track and Field, which happens in the spring, has been highly successful. In their 2023 season, they set five school records and achieved countless first place finishes.
According to Athletic Director Kevin Jones, this success has continued into the winter season of track and field. Just recently, the team secured 17 medals at the Montgomery County Private School Championships and set three new school records.
So why is winter track, which is clearly a high-achieving sport, not varsity?
Mr. Jones states that even though the sport is not league sanctioned, it is given the same support as all other varsity sports at St. Andrew’s.
“We participate in the Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference and the Independent School League,” he explains, “neither of those leagues recognize indoor track for championships.”
He said that winter track “is a varsity sport and operates as a varsity sport.” Team members receive a varsity credit, have a full schedule, are fully staffed and the team is recognized during the winter sports assembly.
Nevertheless, winter track, or “Co-ed Indoor Track” could become a league sanctioned sport someday.
“You need five schools in the league for it to count as a league-sanctioned sport,” said Mr. Jones, “and there have been conversations about that.”
To address the issue of the “Varsity” label, Mr. Jones plans on changing the title of sport to “Track and Field Varsity Coed”.
Varsity or not, winter track continues to succeed in the world of indoor track and field. Follow them for more information on their season at (@saestrackandfield) on Instagram.
Photograph via Stone Photography