The 400 Shootout is Coach John McKeeman’s New Years’ Day, with a little bit of Christmas and Fourth of July rolled into a massive holiday. And the 400 Shootout is a holiday that all of MVTF shares as a big early milestone and a measuring point for the track and field season. There is nothing like the first time we line up on a track, hear the starter’s pistol, and get timed down to the 1/100th of a second–everything about the season feels more real.
After a drenching rain all morning on February 14, the sky cleared and the wind dropped and MVTF saw nearly perfect conditions as they came to the track after school and picked up their bibs for the start. What the athletes did not know was that Coach John had been out on the track as soon as the rain abated and was sweeping the worst of the water off of all the quarter mile track; the track was still a bit soggy and not as fast as it would have been dry, but the team has Coach to thank for zero puddles.
In the 400 Shootout, every member of the Monta Vista Track and Field team gets on the track and runs 400m. The 400m is one of meeting points for sprinters and distance runners (the 800m is the other, but that is argued about a bit more). The 400m is also a manageable distance for hurdlers and field eventers, and as we always do, we start with a throwers’ heat. The MVTF throwers have the honor of the first race of the year, and for a time heat winner Sanmitra Bannerjee had the fastest official 400m time of any Monta Vista athlete in the 2019 season!
In heat after heat, athletes ran hard and also cheered each other on in their efforts. The team saw some nice surprises early. Manu Kondapaneni, only two days removed from basketball, jumped up from the 5th heat to record the 5th fastest mark of the day, a 57.79 that was a 3.16 second PR! Cross country runner Sahil Goel started in the 6th heat but his 58.67 not only won his heat but was also the fastest time for a freshman all day. Newcomer Sammy Dunn ran an exceptional 68.06 out of the third heat, the seventh fastest mark among the girls. Another cross country runner, CCS cross country freshman of the year Jannah Sheriff, had the fastest 400 time among the freshman girls with a 67.71 showing.
At the top of the rankings, we found some of usual suspects and also some new names. The boys had three sophomores on the podium, as Sai Koppuru’s 54.85 put him on the top of the podium followed by Andrew Richardson and Arnav Raut. Pranav Pata in fourth would be fill out a season opening 4×4 although senior Derek Zheng, standing on the sidelines, might have something to say about that. For the girls, Bianca Young topped the podium for a second straight year with a 63.58, again followed closely by her sister Brooke. Distance standout Sylvana Northrop followed in third place with Reema Apte completing our top four.
Thank you so much to Coach John for all the hard work in making this day special, not only all the thoughtful and creative awards but also the planning and organization that make the 400 Shootout a unique and memorable MVTF tradition. What Coach does is really special–this is an event suited for Madison Square Garden!
Coach John was really happy with the day, and had lots of data to chew on in the evening. Even though the soggy track slowed times down slightly, MVTF had it’s first day of competition in the books What a Valentines Day! Well done, team!
Complete 400 Shootout results have been posted.
There are many photos posted that you can download for your own use.
Workouts will continue during break week! There will be optional coach-lead workouts Tuesday through Friday on the track at 3:30pm (and possibly Monday, also). If you can’t make these workouts or are traveling, please continue to train HARD on your own; you can get workouts from your coach. Team, you are on a good roll and getting fit–please keep up the good work!
