On May 12, Aragon’s track and field athletes who qualified for the Peninsula Athletic League Championships competed at Menlo-Atherton. Athletes who placed fifth or higher in their events qualified for the Central Coast Section semifinals, while others are finished for the season.
The track athletes who qualified for the CCS semifinals were sophomore 100-meter sprinter Francisco Sanchez, junior 1600-meter distance runner Beata Gold and junior 800-meter distance runner Emma Madgic. Madgic, Gold and seniors Anna Chuakay and Shweta Ashokraj qualified in the 4×400 relay. The field athletes included discus throwers junior Liam Laughlin, senior Ian Tapueluelu and junior Ane Vaenuku, junior high jumper Vanessa Somoza and senior pole vaulters Melanie Moore and Juliet Bost.
Bost ended as PAL pole vault champion with a jump of 10 feet. Tapueluelu also finished in third place in PAL championships for the discus.
Gold’s 1600-meter run was a close race throughout all four laps between Gold, who was in second place, and the first place runner. Although Gold was close behind her for the first three laps, she tried to pass the eventual first place winner on the first straightaway of the fourth lap, but Half Moon Bay’s Claire Yerby managed to pull away and finish ahead of her. Still landing in second with a time of 5:14, Gold competed in CCS semifinals.
“I set really high standards for myself, so then they obviously become hard to reach. Before this season my record was a 5:16,” Gold said. “I got a new personal record, which was really rewarding for me to go out and translate all my hard work into a success.”
Madgic consistently stayed in second place throughout the 800-meter race and finished with a time of 2:18, also qualifying her for CCS semifinals.
“It was a great race for me,” Madgic said. “I was only one-tenth away from my 800-meter personal record when I haven’t even been able to come [within] six seconds of it this whole season.”
The athletes who qualified for CCS semifinals competed on May 19. Based on their rankings at semifinals, some athletes will continue to CCS finals on May 25.
This year’s track and field team encountered many ups and downs throughout their season. With athletes split up by event, some found it challenging to connect with so many different people across different events, as track and field tends to be more of an individual sport with the exception of relay teams. However, that issue was rare for the Dons this year.
“The coaches definitely set a goal to make it more of a team sport. It’s a pretty individual sport by nature, but for Aragon the team sense was definitely lacking,” said coach Samantha Belvini. “We wanted the kids to warm up together, have pre-practice meetings and also have everyone cheering everyone on in their events.”
The sense of team unity was improved and noticed throughout the athletes.
“Before every practice and meet, the whole team does a warm-up together,” said freshman Ella Bartlett. “Starting off the day as a team really helps us all stay connected regardless of our different events.”
The sense of team unity was one of the strong points and highlights throughout the season, especially when many players were injured.
“I think our school workload has a lot to do with the number of injuries this year,” said sophomore Ryan Oshinsky. “Athletes trying to perform on less than six hours of sleep is a recipe for disaster.”
Athletes on all levels found the track and field team to be comforting, as there is a large amount of people that are in different events, grade levels and both teams and individuals working together,
“The major difference between the start and end of last year, versus this year, is that I feel more connected with my team,” said junior Bharath Guduri. “We constantly support and encourage each other to do better, and I love that.”
Track and field is a no-cuts sport involving many different events, and holds a place for athletes of all grade levels and specialties.
“It’s a sport for everyone, and people can mix and match events or try new events as well,” Belvini said. “It’s so rewarding to see kids do well in something they didn’t think they could even try in the first place.”
Looking forward to next season, the coaches hope to continue growing the sense of team unity and increase the flexibility of athletes between events.
