Season Preview: Track

Photo by Tucker Judkins
Online Managing Editor

The track and field team is looking forward to another successful season of dominance in Rio Hondo. The girls have clinched the league title for the past six years, while the boys have won four consecutive times. Head coach CB Richards is returning for his eleventh season with the team and expects to exceed last year’s achievements. However, South Pas will have to cope with the loss of several coaches due to budget cuts.

We always have the Rio Hondo League team title as a goal, but we always want to keep the bar of success high on both the boys and girls’ teams,” Richards said. “We set higher goals to have a shot at scoring high in CIF team finals. The last CIF team title was in 2012 for the girls’ team. That team was also very young but talented, similar to the girls this year.”

Sophomore Christina Taylor will lead the sprinters, and junior Molly Round will provide strength in high jump. Both went to CIF last year for their respective events. For distance events, sophomores Elizabeth Bock and Lindsey Calva are major competitors. Additionally, junior Cate Latting and sophomore Ashley Hugasian will be key assets in hurdles. However, the loss of senior Kate Kutzer, a top athlete in state, to an injury is a major blow to the team.

On the boys’ side, junior Jack Renken will be the predominant leader in sprints, and freshman Alex Reeves and sophomore Kai Dettman show promising talent as well. Senior Max Schoerner will be a strong contender in jumps, and juniors Jaylen Park and Josh Ng will help garner points in field events. Senior Kieran Press-Reynolds and junior Oliver Chang have been dominant members of the distance squad and are expected to excel again this year.

I believe that many members from both the boys and girls teams will be strong contenders to make CIF finals this year,” Schoerner said. “As a whole, I think if we continue to work hard, we will take league championships for another year in a row.”

South Pas had its first competition of the season at the Burbank Relays at John Burroughs High School on Saturday, February 25. The Tigers took this opportunity to test out athletes in different events in preparation for league. The team ran well overall, with several varsity athletes racing on the frosh-soph level. However, mistakes were made, and there were a few disqualifications in several races.

The Tigers’ first dual meet is Thursday, March 2 at home against Alhambra.

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