Wilcox will be one of the better teams that we run against all year, but that’s OK–good competitors are provided to help us dig deeper than we might think is possible, and find the capabilities we have inside us!  We saw a lot of athletes give strong performances, including Brent and Pranav’s 1-2 finish in the frosh-soph boys’ 1600, Guhan’s season PR in the 100m and Ava’s all-time PR in the girls’ 100M, Melissa had PRs in both the 100M and 200M, Chris Ma and Liam both had season PRs in the 110M hurdles, Sherry had season PRs in both long and triple jump, and our varsity girls 4×400 produced a gutsy performance with a better time than we ever achieved last season!  There were many more great efforts by our athletes.

One performance that would be easy to skip over–our varsity boys’ 4×100 team.  Relay teams are taught again and again to finish the race no matter what happens; this is good discipline, and you never know what will happen.  Our boys fumbled the hand off between 2 and 3–no big deal, it happens.  If you were watching, you could see the athletes look down at the baton and it was as if you could see the thought bubble from across the track:  “&#%@>?!!!”  But they picked it up and finished the race as hard as they could.  And guess what?  The Wilcox 3-4 hand off was messed up,  and they quit!  So…5 points for our boys, for not quitting.  I don’t know if anyone told them at the time but…well done!  That was a reward for strength of character.

A huge shout-out and thanks to all the teachers and parents volunteered, our timer Jim, his wife Rosemary, and our starter Donald (Donald, by the way, is becoming really fond of you guys!).  Also, thanks to the Homestead throwing coach, Andy Arness, and the Homestead throwing team.  Many of you know that Coach Arness is helping coach our throwers this year.  Coach Arness is, in my opinion, the best throwing coach in CCS so this is a great opportunity for our throwers.  Not only did Coach come over and officiate the shot put for our meet against Wilcox, the entire Homestead throwing team came along and helped measure and mark and run the event.  That effort is over and above what almost any team would do for another team–and this epitomizes, for me, one of the great things about track and field–the camaraderie that exists between fellow athletes, even when they are competitors (sometimes especially when they are competitors!).  Thanks to everyone who made this meet a success!

Complete results are at Hank Lawson’s website.

Photos are available in our gallery.