The Emmaus High School track and field teams are coming off their best seasons in a long time and part of the reason for that is a program called the Green Machine Track Camp, which just completed its third year.

The camp culminated with a Meet of Champions where the 90 campers competed in events for medals in front of family and friends on the high school track.

Emmaus track coach Shannon Petrunak organizes and runs the camp, which is for kids entering grades three through nine and is open to children from any school district.

"We had a little over 90 kids, which is great," said Petrunak. "Last year we had 70 and our first year, we had 50. Actually, four years ago we tried to start the camp and we had to cancel it because of lack of interest, because we only had about 20 kids."

Petrunak has been able to round up coaches for various events from around the Lehigh Valley and has enlisted both current and past members of the high school track and field teams to assist with the camp. The Lehigh Valley Road Runners have also played an important role in the camp, providing financial grants and advertising the event on their web site.

"We have 10 coaches from around the area who teach them 10 different events. We do all three jumps (long, high and triple), we do all three of the throws (shot-put, disc and javelin), all of the track events (hurdles, distance and sprints). The only event we are not permitted to do for liability reasons is pole vault."

Because of safety concerns, the camp also uses plastic javelins. Younger kids use shorter hurdles, known as banana hurdles, to get them accustomed to the event, but at the same time, allowing them to have success and not have to attempt jumping too high to clear the hurdles.

While the camp is still relatively new, it's having an impact on the high school teams by getting kids interested in the sport earlier and giving them somewhere to learn the ins and outs of the different events.

"It's been great and really helped our team because there really aren't that many opportunities for kids to get exposure at an early age and we don't have a middle school feeder program," said Petrunak. "So by the time kids are entering high school, kids already have their sports chosen and a lot of times, track isn't one of them."

Campers are able to compete in three different events at the Meet of Champions and the top three finishers in each event are awarded medals.

"We've had so many kids (who previously competed in the camp) who have come out for our winter and spring track teams and that has helped us," said Petrunak.

"We just had our most successful track season this past spring. Our girls were 9-0 and our boys were 6-3."

It's likely there will be other members of the Green Machine Track Camp who will go on to compete once they reach the high school level.