The Richmond Hill High School Wildcats’ track and field team will host their final track meet of the year and the final track meet at their current school campus on Friday, March 21. 

While the occasion will be bittersweet for some, head track coach Levi Sybert is excited for the direction of the program and what has been accomplished since taking over fifteen years ago. 

“I have been a coach at Richmond Hill since 2007,” Sybert said. “I can remember just getting started back then and only finishing with five total athletes at the end of that 2007 season.

“I took over as the head coach in 2010 and that came with a baton, a shot put that we ended up finding around and a stopwatch. We had an asphalt track and some hurdles, but that is about it. We finished that first season with twenty-five kids.”

In his fifteen years, much has changed, including the size of the program and the amount of kids that are currently participating in track and field. While he finished his first year with only twenty-five kids, he and his staff have seniors than that this year. 

“We have thirty-one seniors that will be recognized on Friday for senior night,” Sybert said. “We will pause and give them some recognition on their final home meet of their careers. It will be a great time for them to be recognized by their families and the community.”

“We have 117 total kids on the roster and we have twelve schools that will be in the meet, so there should be more than a thousand people in attendance on Friday,” Sybert said. “This is the biggest one we have had but I am excited for it.

“We will be sure that everyone gets a chance to be able to compete. We want them to be able to be seen by the parents and the community as well.”

With 117 total kids on the roster, Sybert and his staff have done a great job of splitting the kids up into groups over six total coaches. 

“We had to reimagine how to manage that many kids, and be sure we were providing them with a positive experience,” Sybert said. “We try to divide them up by their strengths and what we feel they are good at, and then put them in that group. 

“It is sort of like how football does it with the different position groups that they have. We also want them to be able to be in those groups and build friendships and a bond with the other members of each group. Those small groups help everyone get involved and then they can more easily be developed.”

With the last meet this Friday for both the season and the current school, Sybert looks ahead to the future of Richmond Hill track and field with excitement.