Falcons hope to get back on track in future meets

Her foot in position and her eyes on the mark that she knew she had to reach in a certain number of strides, sophomore Valerie Yang was prepared to take first in her favorite event, the long jump. 

Yang ended up winning both the long jump and triple jump at an away meet against Cupertino on March 15, with jumps of 14-10.50 and 30-09.50 feet, respectively.

Though Yang performed well, the Falcons suffered a tough loss 2-0 at the Cupertino meet, losing 146-107. However, certain star runners were able to show well for the team.

Senior Stephen Law placed first in the 1600 meters with a time of 4:45.80 minutes and second in the 800 meters with a time of 2:12.12 minutes.

Unable to break his personal record (PR) of 4:40 minutes for the mile, Law cited the presence of strong wind on the back stretch.

“There was too much wind and I was too far ahead of everyone else to have someone to pace off,” Law said. “I felt that the [Cupertino] guys were too slow during the first few meters, so I just led the pack and stayed there the whole time.”

Yet just four days later, at the optional Dublin Distance Fiesta track meet on March 19 at Dublin High School, Law broke his mile PR, running an impressive 4:37 minutes. Law’s ultimate goal for his last track season is to break 4:25 minutes.

Senior Vincent Faylor also shone brightly for the team on an otherwise gloomy day. Faylor dominated the boys’ hurdles races, placing first in the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 15.95 seconds and first in the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 43.29 seconds.

On the girls’ side, Cupertino found an edge in star sprinter senior Jade Harrison, who plans to run Division-1 track at University of Michigan this fall. She sailed to first place in the 100, 200 and 400 meters.

Despite Harrison’s strong performance, the Falcon girls persevered and were victorious in a few other events. Freshman Sasha Pickard won first in the 800 meters with a time of 2:35.70 minutes, and sophomore Chloe McGee placed first in the 300m hurdles with a time of 48.51 seconds.

In field events, both boys’ and girls’ varsity were able to notch some clutch wins. Sophomore Paige Hansen won first in discus (1 kg) with a throw of 106-09.00, while junior Tristan Bush won first in discus (1.6 kg) with a throw of 142-03.00. Senior Tanner Zuleeg claimed victory in shot put (12 lb) with a distance of 46-04.00.

As the season progresses, with meets nearly every week, the team hopes to have runners represent the school at the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) championship and Central Coast Sectionals (CCS), but will require more collective commitment to get there.

“We don’t have that many people competing in each event, so it’s just been really hard for us to notch points,” Yang said. “We’ve also had a problem with people not showing up to practice. Last practice, there were around 80 people missing.”

Law noted similar problems regarding team dedication.

“I think we all just need to work harder. A lot of people still skip practices, and we just can’t have that,” Law said. “If we want to win meets and succeed, then the entire team has to come together and improve in both attendance and discipline.”

At a home meet on March 24 against Mountain View, the Falcons also suffered a loss, bringing their record to 1-2.

*Due to printing deadlines, the Falcon was unable to cover the home meet against Santa Clara on March 31.