New London - Rachael Gavin ran her personal best, at 16.92 seconds, on the 100-meter hurdle at a meet Tuesday against Plainfield High School.

Gavin, a sophomore at Science and Technology Magnet High School, joined the New London High School outdoor track team last year to stay in shape during her months off from cheerleading. She did well and now aims to qualify for the state track meet - if not this year, then next.

”I just like getting better,” Gavin said.“I'm really competitive, and tennis just doesn't interest me, and neither does softball.”

Gavin, of Old Lyme, might not have the opportunity to make it to the state meet if there is no track program at the high school next year. The magnet school operates as part of New London High, and the city's school district has proposed cutting track and cross country to save money.

The Board of Education will meet at 7 p.m. on Thursday at the Bennie Dover Jackson Middle School library to vote on a $1.05 million reduction from the board's original $40.7 million budget request.

If the board adopts the Budget Committee's recommendation, the school budget next year would be $39.7 million, a 2.46 percent increase from the current budget.

Under the latest proposal, both indoor and outdoor track would be eliminated to save the district a total of $56,047 in extracurricular activities at the high school and middle school.

The high school girls' swimming team would be absorbed into the boys' team. At Bennie Dover Jackson Middle School, track and softball would be cut and boys' and girls' cross country combined. Wrestling and drama, two currently dormant programs, also would be eliminated.

Leo Facchini, the school's director of athletics and boys' outdoor track coach, said he understood that during tough economic times, making preserving academic programs a priority was“very important.”

But he argued that extracurricular activities provide opportunities for students and“help make the kids hopefully into better, well-rounded people.”

At the track meet Tuesday in New London, many track runners were hearing for the first time that there might not be a team next year.

”That's terrible,” said the team's co-captain Dom Griffin, a senior and running back for the school's football team.“I guess we gotta start winning.”

The 28 boys and girls that run outdoor track train together. Track may not attract a large number of students, but those on the team are dedicated members, Griffin said.

Like Griffin, senior linebacker Earl Wilson, also co-captain of the track team, began running to stay in shape for football. Losing the track program would be“a big loss” for students, especially those who don't play other sports, he said.

”Some kids ain't good enough to play football or basketball,” Wilson said.

Among the proposed eliminations are also the high school's literary magazine, Driftwords, and the online newspaper, The Compass, produced by the journalism class.

Francis Depeter, head of the English department, said the annual magazine, which includes short stories, poems and artwork, might not be published this year because of low participation. He wasn't sure whether eliminating the stipend for the newspaper adviser also meant an end to the journalism class.

Depeter said students need an array of both academic and extracurricular opportunities to thrive and feel connected to school - a key component to keeping students from dropping out, he said.

Threats to sports programs help galvanize public opposition to budget cuts because people“don't want to see those athletic programs disappear,” he said. But if both the magazine and newspaper are cut, students interested in writing won't have an alternative outlet to publish their work, Depeter said.

”What you do in class is fine, but you need to share that, by taking student work and putting it on the walls,” he said.

Depeter likened having students write without a means to publicize their writing to a good sports team that never plays a game to prove its worth.

”It has an intrinsic value, but … it doesn't get our message across that we have great things going on here,” he said.

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