As soon as the coach blows the whistle, the four girls lined up at the end of the track spring up from their starting stances, pumping their arms as they try to accelerate up the straight of the track. When they reach 60 meters, the girls slow down and eventually come to a stop. Their coach calls them over and gives them advice on how to gain more speed and improve their form.

LASA/LBJ track coach Omasha Brantley closely observes and instructs the girls’ short distance track team. New to the LASA/LBJ track program this year, Brantley used to coach track and football at Elgin High School and, before that, at Northwestern State University.

“The thing I like about coaching is I love seeing athletes progress and get happy about getting better each and every week,” Brantley said. “I know that not everybody is going to win every race, not going to win every game, but as long as people are getting better every week, it makes me excited.”

Coaching is in Brantley’s blood because his dad was also a track coach. Brantley sees coaching as not only a way to improve a sprinter’s race times but also as a way to improve the athlete’s overall attitude towards the sport.

“I want to be able to make an impact on a kid everyday,” Brantley said. “‘Reach one, teach one’ is something that one of my old mentors told me. I just love making impacts on people, seeing the joy that sports bring. I think that sports and life are closely relatable, and you can learn a lot of life lessons from sports.”

With these types of philosophies, junior varsity sprinter Aubrie Edmond said she likes how Brantley focuses on form instead of just speed. Edmond said she predicts an improvement in times with the new coaching style.

“I thought it was really cool that Coach Brantley taught us technique instead of just starting us with running,” Edmond said. “I think that with teaching us technique, all of our times are going to improve.”

Seeing that the new coach wants to prioritize sprint technique and strength, junior varsity sprinter Lena Horowitz has formed a new focus for this track season: working on her running form. This focus was inspired by Brantley’s plan to improve the times of his sprinters through a mix of strength and technique training and track workouts.

“It’s all about form,” Horowitz said. “I really expect [Brantley] to focus a lot more on form and technique rather than just running as fast as you can. And also, I expect to do a lot more weight room and strengthen muscles.”

Along with having this set of expectations from her track coach, Horowitz’s personal expectations and goals for herself this track season have evolved as well. Aside from wanting to better her race times by working on her strength, speed, and technique, Horowitz said she wants to improve her attitude towards running track.

“My goal for this season is to try to make a new mindset for running, because I think running is really challenging mentally, rather than physically, because you really want to stop running,” Horowitz said. “I really want to get past that and focus on the good parts of track.”

Brantley’s goals and expectations for his girls’ sprint team this season is that they place, work towards and achieve individual goals. He wants his athletes to hit individual milestones at meets and in practices based on their times to encourage realistic goals. Brantley also hopes that his sprint team will find as much success as the LASA/LBJ girls’ sprint teams have reached in the recent past. In 2016 and 2017, the girls’ sprint team went to the state championship, though they were unable to advance past their regional championship last season.

“I know that last year and the year before, there was a lot of success with the program, and I’m just looking to elevate that and take it to the next level,” Brantley said. “I want all our relays to make it to the state championship. I want at least one person in every individual event to make it. I know that sounds crazy, but like I said, I just want to continue that excellence.”

Brantley is excited both for the success of his track team and to be a part of track culture once again. According to him, the excitement and urgency of track meets cannot be found at any other sporting event.

“I don’t think anybody gets excited for anything else like they do for track,” Brantley said. “There’s nothing like going to Mike Myers Stadium on a Saturday in the spring and seeing thousands of people in the stands cheering on highschoolers. It’s truly amazing, and that’s coming from a football coach.”

Amid the exhilaration and chaos at these big meets, Brantley said he wants his LASA/LBJ girls’ sprint team to stand out. Through a lot of ambition, hard work and focus, he believes that the LASA/LBJ sprint team could be an elite one.

“I want to dominate,” Brantley said. “I want to see the crowd get excited for purple and white.”