Courtesy of Joseph Zhao
Senior Lavanya Bose leaps swiftly to the finish line in the 100-meter hurdles event.In their away matchup against MacDonald on March 13, the girls’ varsity track and field team won 66-53, the girls’ JV team won 54-24, the boys’ varsity won 71-47 and the boys’ JV won 53-42.
Earlier, the girls’ varsity team defeated Fremont 83-38 in its season opener on March 5, securing first place in all 10 running events on the track; the girls’ JV team won 60-37. The boys’ varsity team lost 71-56, even though several athletes won double events; the JV boys’ team lost 78-22.
In the meet against Fremont, the girls’ squad was dominant, winning every individual race and sweeping both the 4×100 and 4×400 relays. Sophomore Claire Hou led the distance runners, taking first in the 1,600-meter mile run with a time of 5:40.79 and the 800-meter in 2:39.96.
Among the star distance runners was freshman Mihika Mishra, who contributed to the JV victories in the distance events by winning the 3,200-meter race in 14:07.71. Although she placed first, Mishra noted the lack of competition in the 3,200-meter event; she was the only girl running.
This was her first time attempting the 3,200-meter event, since she usually trains for 3-mile races during cross-country. For now, she is transitioning to the 2-mile distance as her primary event for track.
To prepare for future meets, Mishra said she plans to focus on long-distance workouts and strength training, which includes core work and lower-body exercises like squats using 10 to 15-pound weights.
“I think I could have paced a lot better, especially in the first half. I feel a little excited [for the next meet] because I think I can definitely improve on my time,” Mishra said.
In the hurdle events, sophomore Chelsea Liang won first in both the 100-meter and 300-meter events, posting times of 18.57 and 52.56, respectively. Now in her fourth year of hurdling, Liang hopes to stay consistent with her event by utilizing a combination of technical drills and building a strong sprinting foundation.
“Hurdling is really just sprinting over metal barriers. We do many of the same workouts and warmups as the sprinter group because of this,” Liang said.
To refine her form, Liang is focusing on building muscle memory through hurdle drills and running on the track with real hurdles. Liang said that practicing with actual hurdles is essential for reducing the pressure athletes might experience during race day.
In preparation for the meet against MacDonald, her primary technical goal was to refine “three-stepping,” a technique where a runner only takes three strides between barriers to maintain their maximum speed.
“It’s kind of hard because you have to run fast and have good stride length to do that. The best thing to hope for is to be confident and do your best,” Liang said.
In the field events, sophomore Elise Hubert secured two victories, clearing 4 feet and 6 inches in the high jump and leaping 15 feet and 7 inches in the long jump.
For the boys, junior Joseph Zhao took home first in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 18.13 and the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 45.08. Junior Max Nyden also dominated the horizontal jumps, taking first place in the long jump with an 18-foot, 7-inch mark and the triple jump at 37 feet, 8.5 inches.
Freshman Arjun Garlapati, stellar performer for the cross country team, took first in the 800-meter race with a time of 2:01.54, and contributed to the boys’ 4×400 relay by closing a win in 3:40.62.
With promising results from their first meet, 13 top SHS track athletes, such as Hou and Garlapati, have been selected to run in the Dublin Distance Fiesta invitational at Dublin High School, which runs from March 20 to March 21. The team’s next meet will be at SHS on March 26 against Wilcox.
