UC High Track has taken off this year on the upper field. With the unfortunate circumstance of having no “real” track to practice on, due to the football field/track construction, the team has had to set up a temporary field this year up on the upper field.
Having to use the upper field creates difficulties for the runners because of the reduced size of the track. “The turns are much tighter because it is 200 meters instead of 400 meters and the runners’ legs are getting tweaked because of the hard turns. We have had a lot of shin splints this year because of the small track we have to run on. Even though they aren’t major injuries, they are still debilitating,” said Distance Coach Jim McCarthy.
McCarthy has many goals for track this year. “We really want to win league and CIF this year,” said McCarthy. “The boys were CIF Champions last year and a lot of them are back so we have a good chance at winning this year, for boys and girls.”
“The training we do for short distance runners consist of speed work and hills. Usually long distance runners will run off campus,” said Junior Alyssa Omahen. “Long distance runners will do tempo runs, which is basically long runs with sustained speed,” said Senior Jessie Hanson. “The girl runners will run with the girls and the boys with the boys,” said Hanson.
“We run a lot of miles and do speed training and endurance,” said McCarthy
Hanson is the captain of all of the girl runners and the distance portion of track events. She is looking forward to running for UC Santa Barbara next year. Senior Reese Haslam is the captain of the Boys Track Team. According to Haslam, his most successful meet was at the Mt. Carmel invitational. Invitational meets are when coaches pay for a spot in a non-league meet to show other schools their skills.
Many of the seniors this year are hoping they will get to run on the new track down on the football field. “We all wish the field would be done sooner, because all we have is a dirt field right now,” said Omahen. “I wish I was a junior so I could run on the field next year,” said Hanson.