Freshman Abena Darko ran in both the 4x100m relay and the 100m dash at the Valley Distric meet at Harrisonburg High School on Wednesday, May 4. Darko has been competing in track since middle school and doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon. 

“I like running the 4x100m because I ran it in middle school,” Darko said. “I wanted to continue running this event in high school because it also benefits [me to prepare] for my other event.” 

Darko likes the 4x100m event better than because she feels she has an advantage. 

“I ran the 100m dash, but I didn’t feel as good as I did during the 4x100m relay,” Darko said. “I felt a lot better during my 4x100m event because I have the curved part of the track. On the curved part, I feel stronger than I do on the straight path on the track.”

Darko and her relay team work well together. 

“This was a strong 4x100m relay race for our team and this was our second race we ran together,” Darko said. “I think it was successful in terms of getting done what we need to get done.”

The team dynamic has improved and Darko feels they have grown as a team throughout the season. 

“I feel like we have [gained] a lot more confidence since the beginning of the season,” Darko said. “We had strong people to begin with, so it has just gotten better from there.”

Darko is proud of her accomplishments this season, but wishes she chose to run more than two events. 

“Throughout the season my time hasn’t changed much, but I do wish that I [stuck] with the 200m [dash],” Darko said. “The 100m just isn’t my strongest race, but I feel like if I [would’ve] focused more on the 200m this season, I could’ve been more successful at that.”

She wanted to try new things and see what she liked. This year, Darko decided to start competing in the 100m for the first time.

“I wanted to try [it] because in middle school, I never ran the 100m, I ran the 200m, so this year I wanted to try something different,” Darko said. “I feel like the 100m has gone well for my first time running this event.”

Darko prefers the 200m because there is more time to compete and get faster. 

“There isn’t much of a difference between the two, but I feel like the 200m is a lot easier for me to run and get my speed up to then use that to my advantage for the 100m,” Darko said. “In the 100m there isn’t much room for me to get fast gradually whereas the 200m allows me to slowly get faster as I’m running.”