It’s a new season of track and field, and the team finds new ways to remain dominant. Whether it’s running the 100-meter dash or pole vaulting, athletes continue to set personal marks and break school records.

Senior Malik Li is primarily a pole vaulter, but he also runs the high hurdles and does whatever else the team needs from him on meet days. Coming into the year, Li was recovering from a wrist fracture that sidelined him for six months. While others were taking full advantage of the track and practicing, Li was grinding through “tiny pole vault drills and all that stuff,” he said.

Before the season, Li was aware of the Campolindo High School pole vaulting record of 15’ 0’’ set in 2012 by Andres Del Valle. He said, “I’ve had that visual since I grabbed the pole for the first time, way back in like 2022… I’ve had the number 15 in my head since forever ago. Every time I would drive and I’d see the overpasses and those height limit signs, I’m always thinking, can I vault over that? Is that the school record?”

Everything changed at the first meet of the season. “It wasn’t even like an official meet. It was the practice meet against College Park… the first Wednesday of when the actual season started,” Li recalled. After half a year of rehab, Li snapped back into form and even went beyond that. Li pole vaulted 15’ 4’’, setting the new school record that he had been chasing for four years.

For someone who grew up climbing on monkey bars and doing gymnastics as a kid, pole vaulting seemed like the right sport for Li early on. He enjoys all dangerous things, and his dad also pole vaulted. He proved to himself that he was capable of achieving those goals that he had set for himself when he first pole vaulted in his freshman year. Li said, “it was just weird to think that I would be able to progress to that level and actually meet the expectation that I set for myself.”

Li was not the only one to accomplish great success for the track and field squad this spring. On April 3 and 4, at the Stanford Invitational, the girls’ team set the second fastest time for the 4×400 relay, and sophomore Caden Ehrhorn set the second fastest time for the 1600 meters race with a 4:10.61, which was .26 seconds shy of the school record. The girls’ 4×400 relay team was made up of senior Claire Andrzejek, sophomore Emma Stimmler, junior Jasmine McCasland, and senior Sarah Graves, who collectively set a time of 3:55.96, which was 1.15 seconds off the school record. McCasland delivered a standout split of about 57.0 seconds in the race. Stimmler, sophomore Sophia Moore, McCasland, and Graves also set the second-best time in school history for the 4×100 Relay with a time of 48.16, which is .12 seconds shy of the school record.

Regarding her performance at the meet, Andrzejek said, “I did well. I [also] ran the 800 and set a new personal best of 2:15 flat. It was a good race… the first lap, I got slower than I was hoping. But the second lap was good.” The team reached new heights at the Stanford Invitational, which sums up an amazing year.

Junior Clark Gregory was supposed to be part of the Stanford Invitational lineup this year, but a late quad and Achilles issue forced him to the sidelines just before the meet. Gregory’s relay spot went to his teammate, junior Nikola Van Delft. “The relay still managed to put forth a school record performance [in the DMR 4000m], which is really awesome,” Gregory said. “It shows the depth we have as a team, which is really unique and makes it really fun to be on the team.”

Gregory was able to get back on the track for the 66th Annual Mt. SAC Relays from April 16-18, and once again, the team broke records. Gregory, Ehrhorn, Van Delft, and sophomore Chase Nickens set a time of 17:24.08 in the 4×1600 Relay. Not only did they break the school record, but they also broke the CIF North Coast Section record. As for Andrzejek, she set the school record in the 800 meters with a time of 2:10.39.

Even though the track and field team has already broken many records this season, the goal remains to not peak in March and April. “We want to focus all our energy on the end of the season and doing well in the season at NCS and state,” Gregory said, looking ahead to championship meets in mid to late May. The team has big goals set in mind for this season, and they are not satisfied yet. They want to achieve more, which they are capable of doing. There’s a shared mindset that invitationals matter, but they are smaller stepping stones towards the higher-priority DAL and NCS meets.