This year’s track team will be practicing with a new long distance coach. Coach Kailee Ramirez is a first-year coach in Devine.

“For my kids, we work out on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and I try to keep a pretty consistent schedule,” Coach Ramirez said. “The most important thing for my kids is that we are beating our last time and running further distances from the previous time we ran.”

Not only does Coach Ramirez coach the distance workouts; she also takes part in the workouts during practice.

“Coach Ramirez sometimes partakes in the workouts with us and helps motivate us to continue running,” sophomore Corinne Fowler said. “Her practices are difficult and sometimes seem harder than cross country practices.”

The track team began after school practices in November. Their first meet is on Feb. 15 in Pearsall.

“My goal for this season is to have all my runners do just as well but hopefully better than last year,” Coach Ramirez said. “After the first few meets we can compare times from now to where they were last year to see what they need to work on in order to get them as far as they can go.”

Coach Ramirez does not just want to influence her runners to exceed their running results from last season, she also wants them to exceed in their everyday life.

“My favorite thing about coaching is watching athletes grow as an athlete and as an individual,” Coach Ramirez said. “You get the opportunity to be a positive impact in an athlete’s life and help them step into who they were made to be. This is a great group of runners, and I am excited to watch them grow this season”