Sprinting competition simulates race to class

The average Saratoga student knows all about running. Whether running the dreaded mile in PE or racing back on campus after  off-campus lunch, hurrying to get around is a vital part of the day.

With the obvious similarities between the televised events and those taking place every day on campus, it seemed natural to include running as an event in the Saratoga Olympics.

The challenge: Beat two other sprinters in a race from the quad side of the girl’s locker room to math teacher Kristen Hamilton’s room, 106, in the math quad. This path is infamous for being one of the most difficult distances to traverse during a passing period, because students have to hurry across the entire school between classes.

The contestants: junior Jennie Werner, sophomore Andrew York and freshman Michael Ren.

After resolving a few complications concerning how exactly to determine the winner, the runners were told to sprint to the math quad. The race was short and sweet, lasting approximately 40 seconds after seventh period. Werner sprinted to receive the winning slot, and Ren completed the race a fraction of a second later.

Though this is likely the longest distance a student would be expected to travel during an average passing, there were several factors that made the race simpler, Werner said.

“During passing period it can be hard to walk through crowded hallways clogged with freshmen,” Werner said, “but we raced through an open campus.”

It is also very rare to find students sprinting through campus on a given day, unless they arrived extremely late to school or were kept late in their last class. This is also not usually an issue except on Mondays, which have multiple classes without breaks in-between.

So how does this modest little Saratoga competition compare to the real Olympics?

“The race was nothing like the Olympics,” Werner said. “Not only did we lack an official timer and starting gun, but we had no fans!”

Even without the added encouragement of knowing millions of people are watching at home, Werner said she still enjoyed her victory.

“I love competition, so it was fun to win,” Werner said.