Track excels at Ocean Preliminary Meet

Updated on May 8 at 11:21.Lillian KalishStaff WriterAfter training relentlessly throughout spring break, the Samo track team faced its most important meets of the season: League Prelims and Finals. Monday, April 30 signified the Ocean Preliminary Meet, a race that decided which runners moved on to the Ocean League Finals on Thursday, May 3. The competitor who came in first from every varsity event during Finals automatically advanced onto CIF, as well as the second and third place athletes who made the qualifying times, heights, lengths, etc.Girls’ varsity track was honored with a plaque on Thursday for having beat every competitor during the season, including their closest rival Beverly Hills High School. The girls’ track team won every meet this season against Hawthorne, Inglewood, Beverly Hills, Morningside, and Culver City. Of the girls that ran at finals, junior Kloey Battista impressed everyone by running the 400 meter in only 56 seconds, qualifying her for state later in the month. Junior Alice Wasserman also qualified for CIF with a 1600 meter time of 5:16.“Beverly is one of the best teams in the state,” senior captain Logan Weinberg said. “They are definitely our biggest competitor so being able to beat them is a huge feat for girls track. We are all so proud of each other for our accomplishments and being able to beat out the other teams is really great.”Though the girls had a big win this season, boys did not. Despite not being league champions, individual athletes still qualified for CIF, among those including sophomore Arden Lassalle, junior Mark Isaac and senior Mitchell Dick. During the Ocean Prelims sophomores Jahangir Habib and Emily Singer also won the 3200 meter run.“[Boy’s track] lost to Beverly in the Finals, but it’s okay,” Weinberg said. “During our long runs and practices you get to know your teammates really well, just like a family. When you get that close and when you see the races we all get pumped just seeing each other run and knowing that we can push ourselves to be the best.”In the upcoming weeks, track will continue to train to prepare for the CIF Prelims on May 12, the CIF Finals on May 19, CIF Masters on May 25, and State Championships June 1 and 2.“We all need to push each other to run faster, jump and vault higher, and throw further, so if everyone just focuses on doing their own parts everything will come together,” senior Kevin Guh said. “The only way we can do that is by trying to outdo ourselves, week in and week out, so our goals provide the fuel for our motivation.”lkalish@thesamohi.com