Northgate Foils Perfect Season for Boys’ Track Squad
April 17, 2019
The frosh-soph boys’ track squad lost its 1st dual meet of the season, falling just 4 points short against Northgate April 10. Competing at home, the Broncos scored 70 points to Campolindo’s 66 to upend the previously undefeated league favorite.
The two schools have not faced each other in league dual-meet competition for nearly a decade. For the previous 4 years Northgate was a member of the “Valley” division of the Diablo Athletic League while the Cougars have been in the “Foothill” division.
Northgate was moved into the Foothill division this year after dominating the Valley division for several years.
According to sophomore distance runner Vishal Lashkari, the contest came down to the 4 x 400 relay, the final event of the meet. Unfortunately, the Broncos dominated the Cougars in that race.
There were also “a lot of events we left empty so that probably hurt us,” Lashakri said in reference to events where Campolindo did not field any athletes.
Despite the loss, coach Tim Hunter is “not too worried” about the boys’ chances winning the Leauge Championship title. “It was just the match-up of teams that got us because Northgate is super strong in the field events, and I think by the time the Championships come around, the boys will be competitive enough to wash out every other team in the league,” he said.
“We only lost 1 dual meet, so I think if we just stay motivated and keep working on improving areas of weakness then we’ll be good to go,” added Lashkari.
Both girls’ squads were victorious against Norghtate, with a 72-64 win for the varsity girls and a landslide 90-34 win for the frosh-soph girls.
According to senior sprinter Maddy Doane, the varsity girls had to work “extra hard” to defeat Northgate as some key athletes were out due to injury, including break-out sprint star freshman Sara Tabbibian who fractured her elbow during practice just days before the meet.
Even with a lackluster performance in the hurdle and field events, Campolindo earned 1st and 2nd place finished in the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1600m and 3200m events on the girls’ side.
The varsity boys fell to Northgate 100-36, and have yet to win a meet this season.
However, since this meet was 1 of the last chances for athletes to improve their marks in an effort to qualify for the league championships, motivation was high.
In the field events, freshman Rennick Coates improved his pole vault mark by 2 feet, going from 6’6” to 8’6′.” Junior thrower Sofia Kohl improved her discus mark from 28’8″ to 48′ 10,” the biggest improvement of the meet.
Doane came 1 step closer to setting yet another school record, running a personal best of 58.53 in the 400m, the 2nd fastest girl’s time in school history.
“My personal goals for meets are always to improve myself to the best of my ability, and even if I can’t PR I always try to run a good race and score points for the team,” said Doane.
