It’s official! The Monta Vista team has pinned on racing bibs, smelled gunpowder smoke and had official FAT (Fully Automatic Timing) marks on athletic.net* and that means…the 2022 track and field season has begun!
The Monta Vista 400 Shootout was the brainchild and labor of love of Coach John McKeeman. Coach John remembered having a 400 time trial at the start of his own high school track season and he brought the event to Monta Vista. I always felt that this was his favorite day of the year, and while I think he enjoyed seeing his athletes go to CCS finals and State and pick up medals along the way, I feel I’m more right than not! We have kept Coach John’s tradition going, and this year Ellie and Agnes even stepped up to provide the top heat introductions and walk-up music that was Coach John’s pride and joy.
The team did great in our first timed event. There were a few surprises…junior Adrian Du put up a 60.2 in the boys heat five that was not matched until the top heat. Sophomore Ryan Samin and freshman Darren Lin also outran their heats and posted 64.x marks that put them in the top 16 on the day. In the fourth girls’ heat, Anika Bhandarkar dipped under 70 seconds and freshman Katherine Lee was right behind as both rookies made a claim to a top heat start next year.
In the top heats, sophomore Denny Dong ran an outstanding 53.88 mark to upset senior Sotirios Kougiouris, who took a strong second place. Denny’s mark is the fastest all-time for any sophomore in the 400 Shootout! Soti’s PR sets him up well for a strong senior season–we can’t wait to see the impact in the 300 hurdles. Joining Denny and Soti on the podium was sophomore Ethan Lu–the Monta Vista boys 4x400m team looks strong for years with Denny and Ethan. Junior Nikhita Saldi recorded a PR of more than three seconds as she romped home with a victory in the girls’ top heat with a 65.44; sophomore Valerie Ayzenburg and Tufts-bound senior Vivian Lau joined Nikhita on the podium.
Thank you to Robert Ma and Agnes Wang who took photos, and a huge thank you to Hank Lawson who came out and timed the Shootout!
Photos will be available on Mr. Ma’s photo website (as of this moment, Agnes’ photos are up and Mr. Ma will post his photos soon–check back!). Complete results are posted on Mr. Lawson’s website.
No matter what our times, we are now rolling! It takes bravery to put ourselves out on the track to be measured…no matter what our marks, we have done more than the people who never even tried.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” –Theodore Roosevelt
*Check out the CCS best marks list…MV boys have the top 20 times…for now! 🙂