Sports are always something that brings a school together. No matter what, everybody loves going to a basketball game or going to watch their child compete in a race.

But there’s always that rivalry between the other schools. You want to bring home not only the win for yourself but also for your school.

Indoor track is a sport that is different from others. Powell has never had an indoor track team. The Powell students used to join with Cody High School, but two years ago that changed.

The Powell High School athletes now compete with Lovell. There is a range of feelings among the students here about having to wear the white and blue Bulldog uniforms.

“I think competing under a different school is a good experience because someone can get to learn some new things from that school’s coaches,” sophomore Dylan Cordes said. “Also a person gets to meet new people on the other school’s team.”

Lovell doesn’t just welcome Powell students but also Rocky Mountain students as well.

There are pluses and minuses to competing with another team.

“I’m glad I get to have the opportunity to not only train before outdoor track but also to get a few competitions in before outdoor starts,” senior JuliaKay O’Neill said.

When playing sports you tend to make friends… well sometimes. When playing sports for another team the word friend has a new meaning.

When you’re suddenly thrown on a bus for five hours together with people you hardly know you have two options. You can choose to embrace the new teammates or you can choose to interact as little as possible with them.

At first it can be quite uncomfortable when you first encounter the athletes of the other school. They aren’t super welcoming at first, but it makes sense when you think about it. Having athletes from two other schools come and compete with you might not seem fair.

Let’s face it they probably aren’t huge fans you’re there, and for some it might be mutual feelings.

Then you have to think about the fact that those who are usually competitors are now teammates. It’s a little odd.

Even though track is an individual sport it still feels different to put on another school’s uniform and race in relays or with people that aren’t normally on your team.

Then in about a month the Lovell Bulldogs and the Rocky Mountain Grizzlies will go right back to being competitors.

Some of us have chosen to see the plus sides of competing with another team.

“It’s very generous of Lovell to allow us to compete with them,” O’Neill said. “I love how nice the coaches are; it makes it easier to integrate into a new team.”

The Lovell coaches are very supportive of allowing us to compete with them. During your races they take your splits and afterwards discuss how you felt during the race and how you think you could’ve improved. They treat just as one of their own athletes.

However, there’s still the fact that they are ultimately trying to improve their runners. Though they don’t mind us joining their team, we still have to face the fact that it’s not really our turf. The Lovell runners would have first picks in relays and who goes to state.

Though running for another team isn’t the same, the Powell runners are thankful that the Lovell team has allowed them to compete with them. They will be competing in Gillette for state indoor March 2-3.