Track team is hopeful for upcoming season

February 13, 2019 — by Neeti Badve and Nitya Marimuthu

With new recruits and rising interest in the team, athletes are feeling more confident.

Head Coach: Archie Ljepava

League: El Camino

Recap: At the league tournament last year, the varsity boys placed fifth, and varsity girls placed sixth. Leading up to leagues, the team did not do as well as they had hoped, with only a few athletes advancing to CCS. However, sprinter Jaijit Singh and thrower Paige Hansen had great performances at CCS and barely missed qualifying for NorCals.

Star athletes: senior Elizabeth Kardach (distance), juniors Julia Hoffman (distance), Kole Tippetts (distance), Emma Hsu (sprint) and Alex Taylor (sprint) and sophomores Tyler Chaffin (sprint) and Alyssa Pinai (sprint)

Key Additions: senior Peter Owens (throwing)  and freshmen Harrison Dance (distance), Amoli Vanavaidya (distance), Ashna Krishnamurthy (sprint), Amitav Rawat (sprint) and Soorya Kuppam (sprints)

Key Losses to graduation: Jaijit Singh, Amit Nag, Keon Roohparvar, Paige Hansen, Chloe McGhee, Alex Metz, Riley Carter

Prognosis:

Despite the loss of some key athletes to graduation, the teams are still looking strong with new and returning runners filling the holes left behind.

Last week, tryouts started off with many fresh faces looking to participate on the team, competing again this year in the El Camino League. For the first time in years, there will be cuts.

With the introduction of new sprint coach PE and History teacher Richard Ellis, the sprint teams have a strong potential for this year. Ellis has not coached track in several years, but he recognizes the budding capability of the coming season, noting the boys’ varsity sprint team shows promise and “could potentially do really well.”

Sophomore William Yin, a sprinter, likes that the team has been spending more time in the weightroom under Ellis’s instruction. With many underclassmen moving up, Yin believes that the team has strong candidates coming in.

“Even though many sophomores from last year moved up to varsity, we have a lot of incoming people that can contribute a lot to the team,” Yin said.

In addition, the distance runners have recruited new athletes to join the team. Captain senior Hugo Huang said that last year’s season was average, with no particularly outstanding achievements yet no great losses, but he is excited and ready for this season.

With the loss of Paige Hansen, who set the high school record for discus last year, the throwing team has some big shoes to fill; however, added recruits and a strong team foundation leaves them hopeful for the coming season.

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