Freshman Heidi Johnson (right) prepares to start a race at the Cavs’ first league meet, March 10.
Once again braving horrid weather, the track and field team competed against four other schools at its first league meet on March 10 at Foresthill High School.
Nevertheless, the team had five first-place finishes, a second-place finish and a third-place finish, as well as two placings in the top three.
According to senior Serajh Esmail, the weather was frigid cold with heavy rain.
“None of us had the opportunity to properly warm up before our races, so even though many of us ran really fast, we all would’ve run faster in warmer weather,” he said.
The wet weather was an inconvenience both on and off the track.
“We had to put our stuff on trash bags because the ground was soaking it, even though we were under a tent,” junior Anny Schmidt said. “It was freezing.”
Esmail won both the 100-meter and 200-meter with a time of 11.67 seconds and 24.52 seconds, respectively.
“I could have run faster had it not have been raining and if it was a little warmer,” he said.
Sophomore Steven Wang won the 400-meter.
Sophomore Annya Dahmani placed second in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 18.3 seconds.
However, Dahmani said she was disappointed.
“I didn’t have a really good warm-up to get used to their hurdles,” she said. “The weather was pretty bad to do hurdles in.”
“The relay team could have been better if we had actually spent time practicing together, because our transitions between legs slightly slowed us down,” Dym said.
“For our first time running in a relay together, though, I think we did an awesome job.”
According to Schmidt, there was only one other team racing in the 4×100 relay.
Dahmani, Dym, Schmidt, Johnson and freshman Kyra LaFitte all ran the 100-meter sprint.
Johnson and Dahmani were in the top three with times of 13.65 seconds and 13.8 seconds. It was Johnson’s first time running the 100-meter.
LaFitte had a time of 27.21 seconds, and Dym had a time of 13.97 seconds.
Freshmen George Nguyen and Kyra LaFitte, sophomore Steven Wang, freshman Heidi Johnson and junior Anny Schmidt (seated), senior Serajh Esmail and sophomores Nina Dym and Yasmin Gupta (seated) gather in the tent, staying out of the cold and rain.
“I hadn’t been training for track, and it was my first track meet in a while, so I didn’t run my best,” Dym said. “It was also very cold, and I couldn’t feel my fingers.
“Also, I used blocks for the first time, which gave me an uncomfortable start in the 100.”
Johnson won the 200-meter with a time of 28.5 seconds, and LaFitte finished in 37.65 seconds.
“(The officials) will probably add 0.3 to 0.5 (seconds) to everyone’s time because the gun wasn’t working because of the rain,” Johnson said.
“We had to stand on the track for a while while we waited for them to figure it out. Finally they had to do it old-fashioned, and (just) say go.”
Sophomore Yasmin Gupta placed third in the 800-meter.
Freshman Grace Naify and senior Jaelan Trapp did not compete.
The next meet is on Saturday, March 12, at Monterey Trail High School.
—By Mohini Rye
