Track is back – and it’s bigger and better than ever.
After a four-year hiatus, the track program at Upper Campus has reemerged this spring, drawing nearly a third of the student body to run, jump and throw as part of the 12-team Omega League.
From league champion cross country runners to flat-out beginners, athletes of all levels have been working since early February to prepare themselves for the season.
“I chose to run track because it’s such a great community and everybody is so supportive – plus I love running fast,” explained junior Corbin Muller, who this week, in just his second track meet, won the 100-meter dash, earned second place in the 200-meter, third place in the long jump and ran the lead leg on a 4 x 100-meter relay team that finished third.
“My goal for the team is that I want us all to finish better than when we came in,” Corbin said, “as runners and as people.”
After competing in the Condor League for decades, and producing league championships and multiple individual league champions, the OVS track program shut down after the 2014 spring season due to league realignment.
The Cate and Thacher schools left the Condor League after that year, and none of the schools that remained had the facilities to keep their track programs running.
However, a move this year to the Omega League has resurrected the track program at Upper, providing a showcase for a slew of talented athletes.
“I’m really happy that our student athletes once again have access to this sport,” track coach Fred Alvarez said. “There’s so much athletic talent at our school and now our track athletes have the opportunity to demonstrate that talent on a large stage.”
Over the past two weeks, that talent has been on full display as the track season has shifted into high gear.
Last week, the Spuds competed in their second league meet of the season, with several runners, jumpers and throwers setting personal bests for the early season.
On the boys’ side, the 4 x 100 relay team — which in addition to Corbin featured sophomore Gabe Weisiger (L17), junior Siyu Lai (L16) and senior Soham Kondle — blasted to a third-place finish.
Other notable showings included a fifth place finish by Gabe in the 400-meter dash and a personal best effort by sophomore Ethan Gao (L17) in the 800- and 1600-meter runs.
On the girls’ side, sophomore Bella Slosberg (L17) and junior Caspian Ellis (L16) had strong showings in the 800 and 1600, and OVS’s fastest 200-meter runners were a pair of freshmen — Marley Burroughs and CatieJo Larkin (L18), who is new to the sport altogether.
Like many who joined track, CatieJo said she is especially pleased with the team environment and peer support at practices and meets, which make an optimal environment for improvement and motivate runners to challenge themselves, all while having fun and bonding with teammates.
“Track is a lot better that I thought it would be,” said CatieJo, who also ran the 100-meter dash and the lead leg on the 4 x 100-meter relay team in the first meet. “The conditioning is hard but we’re getting into it and it’s becoming really fun.”
The athletes, of course, have different reasons for joining track. Some are interested in conditioning and getting fit, while other wants to see just how fast they can be.
For Gabe Weisiger, who is emerging as a talented middle distance runner, this year’s journey in track is about something more personal. To be sure, he wants to see just how fast he can become. But he also wants to strengthen his body and his mind, knowing there’s a payoff that comes with putting in hard work.
“I think improving in track will be a two-way thing,” Gabe said. “When I improve my running I will improve my perseverance.”
Off the track and onto the field, sophomore Adam Pepper-Macias has been coaching track members in shot-put and discus. A recent transplant from another school in the valley, he showed up just in the nick of time to help the team and excel in a sport he has grown to love.
“They offered me something incredible, which is the freedom to be organizing my own workouts and figuring out what’s best for me,” he explained.
Adam has been coaching students Ryan Wyly, Bella Slosberg, and Sebastian Wayman-Dalo, and his passion for throwing makes him a committed and talented mentor to learning students.
“Not many people understand the art of discus and shot put and I want to get people excited about it,” he said.
Now, about halfway through the season, the OVS runners, jumpers and throwers are just starting to hit their strides, learning to push themselves to their limits, enduring the pains to experience the pleasures of running, bonding with one another, and discovering things about themselves that only running can reveal.
“I feel like a lot of us have already started to bond,” Corbin explained. “Running does that to people.”