Pine Plains races through eighth year of Summer Track Program

PINE PLAINS — Connecting local athletes of the past and present, the annual Pine Plains Summer Track Program recently finished another energetic season pounding the pavement, gathering just as much excitement from its young participants as it did when the program started eight summers ago.

The Pine Plains Summer Track Program took off in 2012 when Tara Sullivan, one of its organizers, called a few of her track buddies from her athletic days at Stissing Mountain Junior/Senior High School, including Chris LoBrutto, Kate Osofsky and Sullivan’s sister, Linda Murray. 

All of them, Sullivan explained, had participated in track in high school around the 1980s. Each had excelled at different track events: Sullivan was a long distance runner while LoBrutto and Murray were sprinters and Osofsky was a hurdler.

Along with getting involved with the events they previously excelled in, Sullivan said the program offers the adult volunteers a chance to work with the young athletes who were excited about running. 

Along with its ties to the past, the track program provided a link to the current track team at Stissing Mountain Junior/Senior High School, since it had current track team members and coaches Jeremy Weber and Mike Cooper also volunteer. That, plus the ties to the community and all of the parent volunteers, and Sullivan said it was a win-win situation. Her children previously participated in the track program and volunteered this year helping the little ones learn the ropes.

“It takes a lot of volunteers, but everyone chips in and it works out great,” Sullivan said, expressing her gratitude to all the families and volunteers who helped with this year’s program.

Held on the track behind the high school, summer track was held on Monday nights at 6 p.m., starting July 8 and ending Aug. 9. Offered to children ages 4 to 12, the program had at least 50 children participating every week, according to Sullivan.

Running the weekly program like a track meet, Sullivan said the children were split into age groups to run in different track events with others their own age. They would run a 100-meter race, 200-meter race, 400-meter race, 4-by-100 meter race and do the long jump and the shot put each week, trying to improve their skills each time. After each event, ribbons and medals would be handed out to the children for their participation and sportsmanship.

Asked what it was like to have kids back on the track after skipping the program last year due to COVID-19, Sullivan said, “It was exciting — it was nice to see the younger kids come in and see their energy and excitement on the track.”

Reflecting on how this summer played out on the track, she added, “I think it’s been great. It’s been really fun to see the kids, and because we skipped a year, it’s been great to see a whole new crop of kids getting exposed to track and it’s been fun to have the program running at the same time as the Summer Olympics, so as they’re running track and field, they’re getting inspired by the Olympics.”