On May 4, the Aragon girls won the PAL team title while the boys finished in second place. The majority of the girls points came from the running events. Senior Lauren Croshaw and junior Katherine Chinn won most of their events, while junior Chanel Joyce finished first in the long jump and took second in the triple jump. In the 4×400 relay, Aragon clinched the division title. The Aragon girls won by 16 points.
The boys barely lost to Carlmont at a score of 90-87. Neither team seemed able to pull away, but the pole vault event ultimately anchored Carlmont’s win.
During the regular season, the boys track and field team didn’t lose a single meet. Sitting at the top of the conference, they boast a 6-0 record in the Bay Division. The girls are third in the same division with a 4-2 record. Their success has been credited to the many individuals who have had successful seasons.
Sophomore Patrick Pauni, a shot putter, has been an instrumental player on the team. His success in his event has contributed to the team’s wins. He says, “I usually place first in discus and second or third in shot put. My personal record was 143”5 for discus and 41”9 for shot put. I have broken my personal record about three times this year, thanks to a great coach. If it wasn’t for my coach Oris, I would not have done as well as I know I could.”
Junior Rory Beyer, a long distance runner, has also immensely helped out his team. He has done remarkably well in the 800m, 1600m, and 3200m. He says, “My personal best in the 1600m (mile) is 4:22, 800m is 2:00.6, and 3200m (2 mile) is 9:21. In the dual meets, I get first place. However, when I enter bigger invitationals, I don’t always win. For example, when I ran in the CCS Top 8 Invitational Meet a couple weekends ago, I got fourth place in the two mile. However, I feel that the CCS Top 8 meet has definitely been the highlight of my season. Not only was it under the lights at night, which was awesome, but there was also a ton more competition in the race than any of my other races. Getting to run against really good competition is definitely a huge highlight.”
Junior sprinter Addy Eveslage has had a strong season. She says, “I would typically come in first or second for dual meets during PALs. This was my first year running the one hundred, and I have broken my personal record a couples times this year. The highlight of my season has been perfecting everything about my running and becoming even closer with my teammates. I feel like I have learned a lot this year.”
Freshman Samantha Bhaumik also found much success in the triple jump. “I usually win first place in frosh-soph, and my personal best used to be 28 feet, but now its 30 feet and four inches,” says Bhaumik.
Sophomore Ethan Gentry also powered the frosh-soph boys to an undefeated record. “I usually place second place on average at my events. In the 400m, I got 55.75 seconds. I’ve broken my personal record every time I ran an event, in all my events.”
Sophomore Abdo Boukhalil also helped the frosh-soph boys achieve their undefeated record. “I usually place second or third in my events, but I occasionally get first. I have broken my personal record this year, and I try to do it every meet, and if I work at it hard enough, I could break my record almost every time.”
However, the season hasn’t come without challenges. Pauni believes, “Fixing my mistakes and focusing on what’s best for myself as well as my team was the biggest challenge for me this year.” Sophomore Nick Lansang adds, “Recovering from my injury was the hardest obstacle to overcome. Unfortunately, I was out for a short period of time due to me straining my quad. So, I would have to miss one day of practice each week to work with a physical therapist. But the hard work paid because it prepared us for the meet this year against Sequoia. They have a fairly strong track team, and we kept exchanging first place points back and forth. Fortunately, both boys’ teams won, but the girls varsity lost that meet.”
Still, the Dons overcame and proved to be one of the toughest teams in the division. Sophomore Celene Bolanos says, “The highlight of this season was definitely watching every one improve in their times.”
