Optimism among track and field team

Last Thursday, April 14, Mills High School hosted a meet with the Aragon track and field team. Aragon’s 90 members beat Mills’ and ended up with 60 personal records and 76 improvements.

“The pole-vaulters did really well because they did not have a pole-vaulting team, so all the girls placed,” says Junior Jonathan Pan. “And then the guys, we placed 2nd and 3rd. Mills had this guy that could go way high, but the other people we could beat. Long-jump and triple jump did really well. The girls got PRs and so did the frosh-soph and boys varsity. In terms of running events, the 4×4 relays were super good. I thought in general we were really supportive of their team, and they were very supportive of us. It was a very communal meet.”

Team Captain, Senior Nick DeFerrari, reflects on the meet as “pretty good.” He says, “The frosh-soph guys did pretty well. Luiggi Sebastiani ran a pretty good 200. The meet was hand-timed, so the times weren’t very accurate. Mills has a good throwing team, and so do we. We took them in the discus, but I think we took them in the shot-put. Running-wise Mills is not that good. They’re really not that good as a whole.”

DeFerrari also says that winning this meet is more of a confidence booster.

“This is more of a confidence booster for the real test. I think we still have a lot of work to do. For PAL, we’re trying to win varsity girls and varsity girls and varsity boys. Mills is just another league meet.”

As for winning PAL, many of the team members have confidence that they will be successful in the championships

After the meet against Carlmont, which was hosted and won by Aragon on Thursday, March 31, many teammates were confident that they’d be successful in PALs. Aragon scored 129 PRs and 156 improvements.

“We’re doing pretty well right now,” says Senior Erica Bass. “We’ve been winning most of the races. Comparing to Westmoor, which we lost, it looks a lot better. I won two of [my races] and got second in one of them. I hope a lot of people go to PALs and CCS. We went to CCS in 4×4 last year, for varsity girls, so hopefully we’ll go even farther this year. There definitely will be a few that will go to CCS.”

For the players who will likely go far in PAL and CCS, Bass mentions “For long distance, Lauren Croshaw, Christian Pedro. For the 400, Nick DeFerrari, Candace DeSauvage. For 100, Kyle Fung. I know that they try really hard in practice, and there are some slackers in practiced, and they try hard and it pays off.”

Sophomore Elizabeth McSheery shares Bass’ sentiments; she says “I think, actually, we’ve been doing really well. Jumps, we’ve been winning. We’ve been sweeping pretty much all season. Throws—we’re 18 to one. So far this season we’ve done amazing, beating out everyone. I’ve been doing well; I’ve gotten a couple first places, and a couple second places. We don’t actually have many varsity jumps, but we’ve been holding our own.”

In regards to PAL and CCS, McSheery continues “I think that we’re on track, so we should be doing fine. I think it’s very likely that some of our racers will make it to CCS. I know that we have a really really good 4×4 team. Jumps, I think we might be able to. I do both long jump and triple jump. So far, I was in first place for varsity.”

Sophomore Daniel Goldin says that the meet with Carlmont could have been better had the weather not been as hot.

“I was half a second slower than I was two days ago because of the heat,” remarks Goldin. “It probably affected the mile-runners more, seeing as they’re running 4 laps–pain. As for me, I tied in a [race], I did good. I didn’t run it for two weeks. I mostly felt good doing the 800. I think I could run the 800 faster if I get adequate rest. As for the team, for the races, the varsity guys are doing okay, maybe losing by a couple points, we’ve run almost all the races. We’ve haven’t gotten most of the 2nds and 3rds. We’ve been doing all well last season. Last meet we won by like 100 points, which is great because the scores are usually like 150-100.”

Junior Lauren Croshaw says that thus far the season has been good despite her constantly falling ill–but she’s optimistic for the future of the season.

“The team has been awesome. I think we’re gonna win the season or league. We only lost one meet, and we’ve had four meets. We’re closer to winning the championships.”