Seniors Grant Gibson and Christan Hayes, junior Jared Hayes and sophomore Austin Hayes competed in the Astronaut High track meet Friday, marking the fourth time that a top group of runners has been chosen to compete in a track meet without the rest of the team, and senior runner Tyler Adams is not happy with  that arrangement.

“It isn’t right for the coach to send runners to a meet the rest of us know nothing about,” senior Tyler Adams said. “I would understand if there were time requirements, but right now there is no communication between us and the coaches. There needs to be more transparency.”

Other meets that only the best of the West Shore track team have been selected to compete in are the Bill Wilson invitational track meet in Sebastian and the Embry Riddle track meet.

Sophomore Ben Pinfield, on the other hand, said the exclusive invitation is fair because they are the fastest on the team and deserve to be treated like it.

“It makes sense because those meets are more important and only the fastest kids at West Shore stand a chance of doing well,” Pinfield said. “Also the 4×800 team (Austin Camps, Jared Hayes, Christian Hayes and Grant Gibbson) is the only team with a chance of going to states, so they need the extra racing time.”

The next full-team meet will be held April 5 at the Melbourne Central Catholic High School track.

By Jacob Kent