Track: Ladies prove to be stiff competition at Arcadia

Four track athletes had the opportunity to go on a road trip to Arcadia for a meet to compete against the best athletes in the state. Juniors Ailene Nguyen, Crystal Yen, Michelle Cummins and sophomore Melodie Bellegarda piled into a car and traveled for seven hours to their SoCal destination.

“It was a really good bonding experience for our 4×1 team,” Cummins said. “I mean, we spent seven hours in a car together and then we all roomed together.”

The four ladies competed together in the 4 by 100 meter relay. Initially, the competition seemed daunting, but the athletes put their best foot forward and performed under pressure.

“At the starting block it was all about not letting the team down and to run as fast as I could,” Cummins said.

They worked together to PR in the 4 by 100 meter relay, placing 33 out of 55, quite an accomplishment considering the caliber of athletes they competed against.

“I think we did really well considering that we were running with some really amazing people,” Cummins said. “I think we held our own.”

The meet was a really good experience because the fierce competition pushed them to be better, Nguyen said.

For their individual events, Yen competed in the 100 meter hurdles, and Bellegarda competed in the 400 meter.

While the sprinters attended the Arcadia meet, long distance runners sophomore Maya Nag and senior Garrick Chan attended the Bill Kearney Invitational, held at Hartnell College in Salinas on April 16.

Chan ran the 800 meter varsity finals event, placing eleventh with a time of 2:04.49, a personal record of .04 seconds.

Nag also ran the 800 meter, but participated in the frosh/soph finals. Nag placed third with a time of 2:30.74.

The team as a whole dominated against Cupertino on April 7 at home, trumping Cupertino in boys’ and girls’ varsity and JV. The varsity boys won 78-49 and the varsity girls won 87-26. The frosh-soph boys won 70-57, and the JV girls swept the competition by winning 79-0.

Nguyen led the way by placing first in all the events she participated in, which included the 100 meter, long and triple jump, and 4×1 relay.

Chan also feels confident in the long distance team’s ability to succeed. “The majority of the runners have been setting personal records,” Chan said. “All of us are motivated to work hard and try our best.”

One of the athletes’ goal right now is to become more united as a team, Nguyen said.

On April 21, the team will compete against Santa Clara, which is expected to have skilled runners.

“Santa Clara has a really strong team this year because [they] have the football team out and running,” Nguyen said. “[I am] excited because it’s our one and only away meet.”

Leagues trials started on Monday and the finals were on Wednesday. The results could not be published due to deadline constraints.

Yen recently set a school record in the 300 hurdles and was expected to be one of the frontrunners in leagues, along with Nguyen, Bellegarda and Cummins.

“I believe that our varsity girls have a really good shot at winning the league title,” coach Archie Ljepava said.

Unfortunately, the coach said, many of the boys are injured, so achieving a league title could be difficult for them.

“They’re a little banged up right now so we’re trying to get healthy,” Ljepava said.