On track for a great season

Words cannot describe the energy at this year’s Castro Valley Trojan Invitational, April 1-2. The Trojans ran proudly to victory with the girls varsity taking first place and the boys varsity finishing a close second against Northgate High school.

Overall Castro Valley girls won the meet with 192 points, followed by Northgate with 182 points, and Saint Mary’s College in third with 111 points. Castro Valley boys placed second in the 4×400 meter relay with athletes Ben Davis, Anthony Martore, Suleyman Diomande, and Alex Foster. Samantha Fong ran a 5:48 mile to place second. Kristin Elam placed first win the 100 meter dash with a time of 13.26. The Trojans won the girls 4×800 meter relay with runners Isabel Chi, Aurora Bailey, Emma Piccillo, and Samantha Fong.

“I could hear the meet from four blocks away,” said sophmore Isaac Sheynkman. The excitement was palpable and every time a race was close the stadium roared at the runners.

On April 1, freshmen and sophomores from every school competed against each other while the varsity athletes cheered on their teammates. On April 2 the varsity competed while the frosh-soph cheered. Other schools present were San Leandro, Bishop’O’Dowd, and Heritage high schools.

The entrance fee was $5 which went directly to the Trojans track and field teams. The meet also raised almost $2,000 from the advertisements alone. The rest of the money gathered from the entrance fees and the concession stand will go towards helping keep the track team alive.

“It wasn’t too hot,” said junior Yuya Kono. The weather was perfect with a nice 70 degrees warming up the athletes for their events. There were a number of close races and lots of personal records broken proving the Trojans’ determination to finish strong.