by posted 10/27/2009
 
As a supplement to the team's web site and Facebook page, students, parents, alumni and fans of the Ballard High School track and field & cross country teams can now follow the fortunes of the teams on Twitter.

Folks who wish to follow the Ballard track and cross country teams can now receive short updates on meets, training sessions, and other happenings through "tweets" by signing up on the teams' Twitter site at http://twitter.com/BallardTrackXC.

For those not familiar with how Twitter works, Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length which are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them (known as followers).

Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow anybody to access them. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS) or applications such as Tweetie, Twitterrific, Twitterfon, TweetDeck and feedalizr. The service is free to use over the Internet, but using SMS may incur phone service provider fees.

"This will be a work in progress," said Ballard High School director of track & field/cross country operations Paul Merca.  "We hope we can do quick updates on how the team and its athletes are doing during the heat of competition, as well as let you know what's new with the team."

"Having the ability to send 'tweets' will hopefully help parents who are stuck at work or are en route to one of our meets to quickly find out how their sons or daughters are doing."

The inspiration for starting a team Twitter site came from the success that new University of Washington football coach Steve Sarkisian had with his site (http://twitter.com/CoachSark) as a way to connect with the fans of the Husky football program.

Other prominent people who use Twitter as a means to communicate include President Barack Obama, basketball superstar Shaquille O'Neal, and Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong.

To subscribe to Ballard Track & Field and Cross Country, please visit http://twitter.com/BallardTrackXC.
    

by posted 10/27/2009
 
The following is the tentative 2010 Ballard track & field team schedule as announced at the KingCo Conference coaches meeting on October 27, 2009.

Ballard will host two home meets--against Roosevelt on April 15th, and a triangular against Bothell and Lake Washington on April 29th.

The list of invitational meets that Ballard will attend will be posted closer to the start of the season. Ballard expects to send qualified athletes to the Lake Washington (girls) and Shoreline (boys) Invitationals on May 1st.

All KingCo Conference regular season meets will start at 4 pm.

(above photo of senior Clara Amorosi & sophomore Lauren Cloward courtesy Catherine Weatbrook)

3/1 Official first day of practice

3/18 Jamboree TBA (most likely Nathan Hale)

3/25 @ Lake Washington

3/29 to 4/3 Seattle School District spring break

4/8 @ Skyline

4/10 Eastlake Invitational (tentative)

4/15 vs Roosevelt (either at Southwest Athletic Complex/Sealth or Southeast Athletic Complex/Rainier Beach)

4/22 @ Bellevue

4/29 Bothell/Lake Washington triangular (either at Southwest Athletic Complex/Sealth or Southeast Athletic Complex/Rainier Beach) 

5/1 Lake Washington Invitational (girls); Shoreline Invitational (boys)

5/6 Seattle School District meet vs. Roosevelt/Garfield @ Southwest Athletic Complex/Sealth

5/12 & 5/14 KingCo Conference Championship @ Eastlake HS

5/13 KingCo 4A JV meet @ TBA

5/21 & 5/22 Bi-District meet @ Southwest Athletic Complex/Sealth

5/28 & 5/29 WIAA/Dairy Farmers of Washington State Championships, Mt. Tahoma HS, Tacoma

    

by posted 09/24/2008
 
The coaching staff and athletes of Ballard High School's track & cross country teams are set to welcome the newest member of the Ballard Athletics family, a six-lane track that surrounds the new football and soccer field installed this summer.

This is the view of the discus cage from the fence outside the northwest corner of the field on NW 67th.  Throwers will aim towards the southeast.

This is the view from inside the discus cage as the thrower aims towards the southeast corner.

This is the view of the north long/triple jump pit.  You can see the south long jump pit in the background.  This gives athletes the opportunity to jump in either pit depending on the wind conditions, and allows jumpers to use both pits for practice.

This does not look like much, but this is the high jump apron on the north end of the track.  There should be enough room for jumpers to approach the pit using a short or full run-up. The rubber surface will be poured after the track surface is poured.

This is the pole vault box on the northwest end of the track.  The pole vault runway will run west to east or east to west depending on wind conditions, as there's an identical vault box on the northeast end of the runway.  The wall that separates NW 67th from the athletic field will protect the vaulters from winds coming from the north.

In the northwest corner of the track is the shot put area.  The rings have not been installed as of yet.

This is the view of the track from the first turn.  Approximately where the cone on the right is positioned will be the common start/finish line for lap races.


When the track surfacing project is completed (projected around the first full week of October), this is what the coaching staff anticipates is a common sight weekday afternoons after school.