Friday, April 29, 2016
The Smoke Signal
www.thesmokesignal.org
Track and Field Spotlight
Sports 29
By Mustafa Ahmed, Ashley Chang, Ella Chen & Andrew Kan Staff Writers
This month, the Smoke Signal spotlighted MSJ’s diverse track and field team. At 192 athletes, it is the largest sports team at MSJ. The athletes have continued to persevere despite having only two coaches, exhibiting their passion and dedication for the sport throughout the season.
Events
AT H L ET E S
JUMPS
Yaseen Hakim, 11
Jumps includes events such as long jump, high jump, triple jump, and pole vault. Both the triple jump and long jump events occur in the same sand pit at Tak Stadium. This year, the jumps captains are Seniors Christine Arnstad and Erikka Linn. Because the coach was injured early in the season, the captains and seasoned varsity athletes run jumps practice. Linn said, “The veteran athletes are doing very well in their events and there are quite a few new people with a lot of potential.”
Hurdles Captain Junior Yaseen Hakim has been doing track for three years and competes in 110-meter (110m) hurdles, 300-meter (300m) hurdles, 200-meter (200m) dash, and 100-meter (100m) dash. He decided to join hurdles because he has always been flexible and this skill helped him quickly adapt to the event. He received the 2015 Boys’ Frosh/Soph Most Valuable Award and hopes to advance past the North Coast Section (NCS) Bayshore Area Championships this year to the Meet of Champions.
Jessica Feng, 9
Avery Smith, 10
sprints
Tristan Durst, 12
Sprint events include the 100m dash, 200m dash, 400m, 100m hurdles for girls, 110m hurdles for boys, 300m hurdles, 4x100 relay, and 4x400 relay. The sprints group constitutes the bulk of the MSJ track team, with the most popular event being the 100m dash. Although they are composed of only a few athletes, the hurdlers greatly contribute to MSJ’s total score. Head Coach Brian Singleton leads the sprinters, and practice consists of a two-lap warm up run, stretches, drills, and a sprint workout on the school track.
Distance
Distance is separated into long distance and middle distance. Middle distance includes the 800m run, and long distance includes the 1600-meter (1600m) and 3200-meter (3200m) runs. Also led by Coach Singleton this year after Distance Coach Linda Addison retired, the distance group usually garners many points for the team. During practice, they warm up, stretch, and do drills with the sprinters but split off to do their respective distance workouts either on the track or local roads.
Nisha Sen, 10
Erikka Linn, 12 Senior Erikka Linn started jumping in her freshman year. Every year since her freshman year, Linn has qualified to compete at the NCS Meet of Champions for high jump and long jump by winning the MVAL League Championships and NCS Bayshore Area Championships. When asked about her favorite part of being a jumper, Linn said, “My favorite thing is actually, jumping. There’s just something about that feeling of flying.”
John Wang, 12 Senior John Wang joined throws in his freshman year, when former throws athlete Elliot Lin encouraged him to try it out. This year, Wang competes in Varsity Boys’ shotput and Varsity Boys’ discus. His records are 38 feet 2 inches and 135 feet 3 inches, respectively, which makes him one of the leading throws athletes in the league.
voices
Erikka Linn, 12
Throws
Sophomore Avery Smith has been running track for two years and participates in the 400-meter (400m), 800-meter (800m), and 4x400 relay races. She was the 2015 Mission Valley Athletic League (MVAL) Girls’ Frosh/Soph 800m champion and competed in the 4x400 relay at NCS Area Championships as well. Smith, who is now on Varsity, said, “The best part of being an athlete is having friends…to celebrate with after running a PR [personal record].”
Justin Leung, 10
There are two main throws events: shotput and discus. Frosh/Soph boys throw a 10 pound shotput; Frosh/Soph and Varsity girls throw a 4 kg shotput; and Varsity boys throw a 12 pound shotput. As for discus, girls throw a 1 kg discus whereas boys throw a 1.6 kg discus. This year, there are about a dozen throws athletes on the team. Coach Brian Kemp and Senior Captain John Wang run practice, alternating between throwing practices and weight training. Wang said, “There has been general improvement throughout this season, so we are pretty satisfied with the team’s performance at meets.”
Matthew Saleem, 12 Events: 110m hurdles, 300m hurdles Q: How has Track and Field impacted your life? A: Track and Field has made me a more competitive person and made me strive for self-improvement. Track and Field has really helped me live a healthier and happier life.
Tom Scrutton, 11 Events: 3200m Q: How has Track and Field impacted your life? A: Track and Field has given me a group of people to support me. There is a whole team atmosphere where everyone tries to support each other. Everyone from different parts of the team come together, and it is like a family.
Evie Sun, 10 Event: long jump Q: What have you accomplished this season? A: I [improved my] personal record [by] 12 inches. Before, I was scratching a lot. After I got my personal record, I got more motivated and was like I can do this.
Maggie Yu, 9 Events: 1600m and 400m Q: What are your goals for Track and Field this season? A: I want a sub-six minute mile. I don’t think I will get it, but I will aim for it.
Meet The coach Smoke Signal : How long have you been coaching, and how long have you been participating in Track and Field?
Brian Singleton: I’ve been here at MSJ for about ten years. I would say that I have been involved in track for a total of 25 years if I include my time doing track in high school, college, and coaching. I first began doing track when I was in high school. SS: Why did you decide to become a track and field coach? BS: I was inspired by my own high school coach. That was the direction I wanted to go give back to student-athletes the way he gave to us. He inspired us and played an important role in forming our thinking and morals. He was such an inspiration that that was the way I also wanted to live my life out. SS: What has the team accomplished so far this season? BS: We had a lot of really good individual performances this season, but it’s a bit too soon to get a big picture of how the season went. A lot of these athletes will do a lot more as the season continues to progress. Our athletes will continue to compete at league meets and there is a possibility that some people could qualify for NCS or for the Meet of Champions. SS: What are your goals for your team this season and in the future? BS: This season has been unique. We lost two coaches so there’s only me and my assistant. We want to make sure we get additional coaches for next year and the future. I want to be able to compete next year with a full set of coaches as we have such a good group of student athletes who would benefit from having more coaches help improve their technique and physique. We want to be able to push harder and get out of the current “survival” mode. SS: What is the best part about being the head of track and field? BS: I enjoy most watching athletes go from being brand new to the sport to becoming mini-experts. Watching their physical and mental growth and watching them pass that on to younger members of the team is definitely the best part of being head coach. It is also incredibly satisfying to see them pass on that information along with the general principles and lessons that I tell them to younger members of the team. That is the most gratifying part of the job and that’s kind of the pinnacle of why you do it. SS: What is your favorite memory of the track and field team? BS: My favorite memory was around three or four years ago when we took our 4x100 meters relay team to the Meet of Champions. It was the first time we had a good relay, let alone sprints program in a long time. It was exciting to see how the kids went from believing that they could never be good runners to becoming excellent runners.
photos by staff writers mustafa ahmed, ashley chang, ella chen & andrew kan