Sam tries out track and field at Westwood High School

WEST ISHPEMING — When it comes to challenges, Sam is usually up for anything. Whether it’s eating a two pound burger or joining a goalie school, he’ll do just about anything that involves embarrassing himself. His latest adventure took him to Westwood High School to take a shot at several track and field events.

Track and field is harder than it looks. Whether it’s running, jumping or throwing, only the best athletes can succeed at this multi–faceted sport.

I decided to give it a shot myself, with the help of the Westwood track and field team. Then it was time to stretch, something I didn’t do a lot in high school. And some of the stretches just looked weird to me. After that, coach Eric Hill got us together for a quick pep talk about some drills for the students.

Now it was time to try out some events. First on my agenda was the hurdles.

Troy Anderson showed me how to set up my starting block, which was like doing the hokey–pokey. Then we went head–to–head with predictable results. Next, we ditched the hurdles and raced in the 100 meter dash. My opponents were Rachel Hunt, Ethan Burke and Luke Gray. I spent the entire race begging them to slow down.

Maybe field events was my thing so I ran over to the long jump with Jarod Antilla. His first jump set the bar way too high.
But I was unfazed by this challenge. With my shoes full of sand, I made my way to the pole vault where Matt Simon tried to explain to me about one of the more technically difficult events.

His explanation made sense in my mind, but I just couldn’t translate it to my body.

How about the high jump? Ryan Stanaway makes it look easy when he does it. But maybe that’s because he’s a basketball player.