Head Coach: Archie Ljepava
Last year’s record: 2-5 (boys’ varsity) 3-4 (girls’ varsity)
Recap: The team had a solid season last year with senior Natalie Zaragoza and Class of ‘24 alumnus Jiah Jung advancing as far as the CCS Championships while many promising underclassmen contributed to a 5-2 JV boys record.
Key Matchups: Fremont and Monta Vista
Star Athletes: Seniors Kitty Gechlik (200m sprint), Dylan Sordello (1600m, 3200m), Dylan Wilson (100m and 200m sprint), Caleb Yu (long jump), Natalie Zaragoza (100m and 200m sprint) and Clara Zhao (300m hurdles), sophomores Debesh Das Sharma (800m) and Vedant Sinha (400m) and freshman Claire Hou (1600m)
Key losses to graduation: Pearson Chung (triple jump), Reagan Curtis (shot put and discus), Paul Hulme (high jump), Jiah Jung (300m hurdles), Annie Liu (100m hurdles), Jacob Merrill (1600m) and Steven Sun (200m and 400m sprint)
League: El Camino
Prognosis:
Following the departure of longtime track coaches Ian and Kathy Tippetts and previous head coach Andy Ligeti, athletes have observed significant changes in their day-to-day training regimens.
With the return of Rick Ellis, the school’s athletic director, as the sprinting coach, many athletes have reaped the benefits of having a diversified workout plan in contrast to Ligeti’s more repetitive workouts.
“Archie and Ellis ensure we incorporate endurance, acceleration, blocks, relay handoffs and rest days all into our weekly plans rather than running unreasonably long distances like last year,” senior sprinter Dylan Wilson said. “The focus has been conditioning and getting into shape ahead of the season.”
Distance runners have also adapted to a new coaching philosophy under coach Amanda Follmar. Follmar is an avid ultra-marathon runner who previously coached cross country in the winter alongside Tippetts as well as the Redwood Middle School cross country the year before.
“Coach Follmar is definitely putting more emphasis on speed work opposed to pure mileage. I think this approach is more effective as races are a max of one to two miles,” senior distance captain Adi Hebbalae said. “Adding mini hurdles to our warm up has really helped with form and overall having a more dynamic warm up is really good.”
Coach Follmar emphasized the importance of training for aerobic development and speed and power.
“Athletes who are very aerobically fit and can carry a high aerobic load will be able to access a higher percentage of their speed reserve when the real racing starts. This is why we train for aerobic development and speed and power,” Follmar said.
Although adjusting to these new coaching philosophies were initially difficult, most runners have responded pretty well, feeling that they are in better shape and trending in the right direction for the upcoming season.
“I am optimistic about this season because coach has done her research and has a lot of insight about running and racing, and I trust she knows what’s best for us,” Hebbalae said. “Our team is pretty balanced between upperclassmen and underclassmen and we have a lot of talented runners who continue to cut their times.”
The team’s first meet was at home against MacDonald and Monta Vista on March 13. Both varsity boys and girls hold 1-1 records, taking 88-35 and 67-39 victories respectively against MacDonald while falling short 71-56 and 90-33 to Monta Vista.
“I’d love each runner on the team to develop an unwavering belief in themself,” Follmar said. “Whether experienced or new to track, it would be great to see each one of them explore the exterior boundaries of what is possible.”
