Senior Avery Gigoux passed the baton to fellow 4x100m senior runner Laura Cummins after finishing the third leg in the race against Fremont on April 2. Running one of the last meets of her high school track career, she watched Cummins race down the track with a wistful smile. The girls’ relay team, which also included junior Kylie Stokes and senior Puck deRoos, finished second with a time of 53.82.
“[For relays], it’s mainly about creating a foundation,” Gigoux said. “You have to be able to get along and be there for each other because it’s a team race. We had a tough time managing our [4×100] team, but we pulled it together and got the baton around the track.”
At the Fremont meet, the girls lost 44-83, leaving the team’s league record at 1-4.
Several athletes took part in the CCS Top 8 meet on April 17 hosted at San Jose City College. DeRoos placed third in the high jump with a height of 5 feet and also competed in the 100m hurdles with a time of 16.56, while freshman Chloe McGhee ran a 16.78. McGhee had a time of 49.29 in the 300m hurdles, and Cummins raced in the 100m dash with a time of 13.70.
For Gigoux, the meet against Fremont was her last. Because she “runs funny” due to her compartment syndrome, her aching shins soon developed stress fractures. After dealing with the pain for three weeks, Gigoux got crutches on April 16.
“When I got put on crutches, I was crying,” she said. “It was so hard to believe that the season was coming to an end, [and] now that it’s fully over for me, it’s hard to wrap my head around it.”
Even before the injury, this season was challenging for her because her shin problems prevented her from performing as well as in previous years. Still, Gigoux did improve throughout the season.
Cummins, a fellow sprinter and close friend of Gigoux, says she will miss the motivation that she brings to every practice.
“[Gigoux is] like the cheerleader of the team,” she said. “She's not only extremely dedicated, but also so supportive. It broke our hearts knowing she couldn't finish off her senior year doing what she loves, but she finished her season strong and she continues to come to practice and support us, which shows a lot about her personality.”
Like Gigoux, Cummins struggled to deal with injuries during the season: her Iliotibial band in her knee prevented her from practicing and staying in shape. However, she believes that it will fully recover by the last couple of meets of the season.
Her goal at the beginning of the season was to get a time of 12.70 in the 100m and 27.00 in the 200m dashes. Though she has not been able to reach her goal due to her injury, Cummins feels that her coaches and teammates have supported her every step of the way.
“The coaches have put in so much time and effort to help me succeed, and I'll always be grateful,” she said. “Track has been my family. It's been a place to relieve stress, have fun with my friends and learn to be confident.”
Cummins will be attending UC Berkeley this fall, and plans on participating in intramural sports rather than running for the college team. Similarly, Gigoux plans to coach middle schoolers at a club track team near her school in Colorado, Front Range Junior College, instead of joining a track team.
As graduation nears, Gigoux has nostalgic feelings about competing in her last year in high school track.
“Track has helped me develop myself in high school,” she said. “The sport has always been there for me and I don’t know where I’d be without it.”