Dons track and field: Running smoothly

Now that spring is finally here, we can look forward to a more refreshing and exciting season with the spring sports. Track and field is getting ready to give it their all this season. The sport however, plays a lot more differently than other sports. Track and field is a number of categories within the sport. Some of the categories are sprinting, distance, shot put, jumping, and hurdles. Players train in all these areas and excel in some of them.

Lucas McLeland excels in sprinting, while another runner by the name of Manny Munoz shines at distance running. Virgilio Santiago, another runner, is proficient at sprinting and distance running. During an interview with Virgilio, I asked him what part of the sport he thought was fun,

“Honestly, it’s the competition. I remember it was last year; I was running against one of the Van Nuys runners… an 800-meter run, [we] were neck-to-neck the entire race, …I had to speed it up,” he said. “It’s really just the motivation and the competitiveness that makes me drive to be better at the sport. It’s mostly the competition that makes me want to be better at the sport.”

In case you were wondering, Virgilio won that race and took first place. Last year was a great year for him too, since he managed to break his personal record on a mile. He plans on breaking his personal record for the mile again this year and for senior year, with his senior year finishing a mile in under four minutes.

The players in track and field treat each other as a family, giving advice and helping one another. Some notable players are VJ Jones, Kenneth Ramirez, and McLeland. McLeland is great at sprinting and gets really competitive, while Ramirez is quick on the hurdles. Jones’ stamina is unmatched compared to others. It’s as Virgilio Santiago said,

“They’re all just a bunch of awesome people and really great friends in general,” said Santiago. “We’re like a family in a way.”

–Cristian Morales