The track and field team competed in the El Camino League Finals on April 26. Although both the varsity boys and girls teams came in last out of the seven teams, many individuals qualified for their own events and achieved personal records.
In order to qualify for the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) Finals, athletes had to rank in the top 16 in both the El Camino League as well as the De Anza League, the upper division. Athletes who place in the top six at SCVAL qualifying meet will move on to the Central Coast Section (CCS) finals.
The athletes who qualified for the SCVAL meet at Los Gatos High School on May 3 are senior distance runner Elizabeth Kardach, juniors long-jumper Alice Lin, throwers Alexandra White and Will Seifert, distance runners Shivam Verma and Kole Tippetts, sprinters Jack Kibort and Alex Taylor, sophomores thrower Hermione Bossolina and sprinter Tyler Chaffin and freshmen sprinters Ashna Krishnamurthy and Nicole Lu, distance runner Harrison Dance and long-jumper Giulio Morini Bianzino. Alternates athletes are are: juniors sprinter Emma Hsu and distance runner Julia Hoffman and seniors sprinter Raveena Rao and thrower Peter Owens.
JV athletes could not qualify for SCVALs, but there were four Saratoga athletes who came in the top three in their events — freshman Julia Gonzalez placed third in JV girls’ high jump, sophomores Shama Gupta placed first in the JV girls’ 100-meter and 200-meter, earning the JV girls team a championship, and William Yin placed third in the JV boys 100-meter and junior Armina Mayya placed second in the JV 1600-meter.
Alice Lin, who qualified in long jump, achieved a personal record with a jump of 16’ 2 at the El Camino League Finals.
“League finals went well,” Lin said. “I was mostly focused on long jump because I knew it was my strongest event, and I was very nervous right before jumping, especially since I couldn't quite find my mark.”
Taylor, who is also moving on to SCVALs, achieved personal records of 11.29 s and 22.98 s in the 100-m and 200-m, respectively, at the El Camino League trials. He will also be competing with the 4 by 100-meter and 4 by 400-m relay teams, who placed sixth and seventh respectively at the SCVAL meet.
“I wasn’t too shocked or heartbroken by not getting first, but it was a nice experience to just get out there and race,” Taylor said. “It’s all about racing the other guys, trying to pace with them and catch up with them.”