After 35 years, the boys’ varsity track team became league champions on Friday, April 29th. “Our varsity boys finished the regular season undefeated and our varsity girls finished ten and two,” Coach Steven Munoz said.  “The last time this school won league championships, I hadn’t even been born, it’s been a while but knowing that I’m going to graduate having won a league championship is awesome,” Emiliano Ramirez said. On the girls’ side, the varsity girl’s team ended up in 7th place, despite their best efforts.

 “It was a great feeling, it was kind of a sense of euphoria in a way, after 35 years of nothing, to be a part of something that is such a big piece of our history, it was just an amazing feeling to see all the hard work we put finally paid off,” Muñoz said. 

Because of the meet not being scored properly, there was some confusion regarding the victory, but in the end they ended up winning the title. “We finished third at the championship meet, but in the league meets we finished first and undefeated,” Muñoz said.

Based on individual performances at the league championship, 30 athletes got to participate in the PCAL Masters meet the following Friday. The Masters meet would determine who would qualify for CCS. “We had a lot of good performances, our top 400 meter runners, Armando and Devin, held it down in first and second place finishes, scoring us 18 points,” Muñoz said. “We had people score in nearly every event,” he added. 

15 people from the team qualified for the CCS semi-finals. From the 800 meter runners, Ramirez qualified. Along with Armando Nava, Devin Tapia qualified for the 400 meters and the 4×400. Josue Macias and Bryan Meza also qualified for the 4×400. Bryan Meza qualified for the 300 meters hurdles. Nicholas Padilla, Anthony Ruiz, Julian Chuca, and David Mandujano all qualified for the 4×100 relay race, and Hector Ortega qualified for high jump.

 On the girls side, two relay teams qualified – Elizabeth Ortega, Crystal Ruiz, Terra Ward, and Valerie Tenna for the 4×100. For the girls 4×400 relay team, Terra Ward, Valerie Tenna, Carolina Nava, and Luz Mejia-Martinez qualified. 

CCS took place on Saturday May 16th and the final results for the girls relay teams were 24th place for the 4×100 with a time of 52.96 and 16th place for the 4×400 with a 4:24.90 finishing time. For the boys, the 4×100 team ended in 29th place with a time of 46:66 and 18th for the 4×400 with a time of 3:43.19. In the high jump, Ortega finished below 22nd place, Ramirez had a time of 02:05.48 and finished in 27th for the 800, Nava finished in 21st place with a time of 52.07 and Tapia ran 51.53 and ended in 18th for the 400. Meza came in 17th for the 300 in hurdles with a final time of 43.13.

Despite not having anyone advance, Munoz was philosophical. “Not being in CCS for over two years was an eye-opener for some, while others embraced it and had a good old time with it,” he said.