Woodside’s track and field team exceeds expectations as they continue their undefeated season.
This year’s team has done amazing so far with improving and keeping outstanding performances.
Dominic Barty, a sophomore and first-year long distance runner, runs the 800, 1600, and 3200 distance runs. Barty spends a lot of his time practicing, so he can improve.
“Last week I did about 50 miles total,” said Barty. “Our training is usually vast stuff on Mondays and Wednesdays. On Thursdays and Tuesdays, we do long runs which are usually seven to ten miles, and on weekends we’ll do our breakout runs.”
Track distance runners spend a lot of time training and preparing for their meets, but every sport has it’s challenges.
“I think you have to be focused, [and] stay mentally focused on the task to really push yourself,” Barty said. “I think it’s a lot of mental toughness because long running is not like sprints; it’s not over in ten seconds. It can go for a long period of time.”
Hans Buhr, a senior and three year distance runner, also runs the 800, 1600, and 3200 distance runs. Even though the track team is an individual sport, the team still managed to get close.
“We all practice together,” said Buhr. “We each form little groups, whether we’re on Varsity or JV but, we’re all very close because it’s relatively small.”
Even though there may be good and bad days, practice makes perfect.
“There are definitely days where you’re tired and just want to go home but, if you don’t practice, you won’t get better,” said Buhr.
The team’s supportive and positive attitude helps the whole team succeed.
“For the distance people, we’re working together a lot and always checking in to see how everyone’s doing,” Buhr said. “As a whole [the team] is undefeated so far, but within that, we’ve definitely taken some losses.”
The track and field team has an undefeated record but has had some losses in each category. Due to their outstanding performance, the team has received many invitationals and is preparing for the Peninsula Athletic League (PAL). If they do good in PAL, they get to go to the Central Coast Section competition (CCS).
“I’d say for the most part we’re really competitive, and we’re up there in PALS,” said Buhr. “We have a few people qualified for PAL championships, [and] from there we’ll get a better idea who is going to CCS.”
The team’s record and achievements have made everyone improve. Abigail Noguez, a sophomore and first year shotput and distance teammate has seen a change in everyone’s performance.
“Everybody has been improving,” said Noguez. “One of my teammates at first would throw from the second line which is the 17 foot line, and now he’s almost throwing from the third line which is almost 27 feet. That’s a big improvement.”
Behind the incredible performances of the team, the coaches have done a great job helping everyone improve.
“Our coaches are my motivation for sure, and my teammates motivate me because they help [me] out through everything,” Noguez said.
