Dryden’s Davis making big strides

Dryden track and field is four events into its season, and junior Carlea Davis has consistently been one of the team’s top performers. In just her second season competing in track, Davis has three victories in the 55m hurdles, one long jump victory and three wins with the 4x200m relay team.

In June, Davis competed in two events at the Section IV Championships, placing ninth in the 200m dash and sixth in the long jump. With those results in mind, she put in a lot of work in the offseason to prepare herself for her first indoor track and field season.

“I would go in over the summer with a friend, and we would open up the long jump pit,” Davis said. “I would just do long jumps over and over again. I would watch videos online of people doing it and I would try and copy what they’re doing and just figure out something that really worked for me.”

Davis used the shortened outdoor season in the spring to figure out where she can perform best for the track and field team and consequently made the switch from sprinting to hurdles this season.

“Last year was my first year in track, so I was getting to know the sport and what events that I wanted to do,” Davis said. “I started with sprinting and jumping because that’s just more entry-level. But this year, I branched off into hurdling. That was what was really different for me because I do a lot better hurdling than just sprinting. I improved a lot [over the summer].”

Sophomore year of high school is a bit late to start pursuing a new sport, but Davis has found plenty of success anyway. She detailed her jump to track and field, which was motivated by the pandemic.

“I was doing gymnastics for a really long time, but with COVID, I stopped doing that,” Davis said. “I was not really doing a sport and I decided that I wanted to get active again and compete again. Track just seemed like something that I could do, and I turned out to really love it.”

Through the entirety of the outdoor track and field season in the spring, Davis was able to win one individual event in a season-opening meet against Marathon and Moravia. She talked about the strides she has made since then.

“I was really hoping to [perform at a high level], but I don’t know if I could say I was expecting to,” Davis said. “I was really hoping that all the work I put in over the summer and last year and all the practices this year would pay off, and I think they did.”

Davis has continued to raise the bar for herself this season. Since the season-opening meet on Dec. 4, she has dropped a half-second off of her time in the hurdles and has added a foot to her long jump.

“It is so great,” Davis said. “I feel so happy, and every time I [set a personal record], it’s just such a great feeling. It’s what keeps me motivated to go to practices and try my hardest every day.”

Running the 4x200m relay has been a big part of Davis’ season so far. She runs the first leg of the race and is typically followed by Nicole Morrow, Walaa Al Shoffe and Hollace Finver. The team has won the event at the last three meets, making it one of Davis’ favorite parts of the sport.

“I love relay so much because we can really cheer for each other and help each other when we’re running,” Davis said. “We work well together. We practice a lot doing handoffs and just everything involved in what makes a relay work. It’s great that we’re all friends and close. We like to work well together. We just motivate each other a lot along the way by cheering and we always celebrate at the end together.”

There are only nine members of the Dryden girls track and field team, but that hasn’t stopped the Lions from having success this season. Davis talked about how the team has been able to perform well despite the low numbers.

“I think that says that we work hard,” Davis said. “We all really make an effort to go to practices and show up and do our best. We’re all super competitive with each other, so that really helps. When we’re just at practice and doing our workouts, we have each other to motivate us. We’re all really close-knit. It’s really great.”

With only two meets left in the regular season before sectionals, Davis talked about what she’s looking forward to in the coming weeks.

“I’m really excited for the bigger meets like sectionals and state qualifiers,” she said. “I’m really excited to see how our team does. I just am really looking forward to more personal records because how I’m improving is what means a lot to me, not what I’m placing. I’m hoping to get better.”

In just her second year of track and field, Davis has made remarkable strides, potentially leading to postseason success. Davis and the Lions are set to compete in the Section IV Classic at SUNY Cortland on Jan. 15.

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