Handed Off History: Boys Track Breaks 4×1600 Meter Relay School Record

On Friday, April 17th, Zack Vargas, James Gagnon, Andres Nino, and Jack Arreola broke the school 4x1600m relay record at the Mt. SAC Invitational. Three of them, and their coach, TJ Sugg, give their thoughts on this great achievement.

By: Fabian Anguiano

Breaking a school record is one thing; breaking it at an invitational of the caliber of Mt. SAC is another.

Andres Nino, ‘27, says his reaction to them breaking the record was, “Great, breaking the 4×1600 career record felt good doing it with this team.”

Nino feels that their hard work has contributed to them breaking this record because they kept pushing themselves and reminding themselves that they have done this many races before hand.

As an individual, Nino believes he did, “Good. I wish I had pushed my lap a little bit more so our time would get even lower, but that’s what next time is for. Hopefully, we could break it again.”

For the team, it felt amazing to know how they did it. It felt amazing to do it with a team that went to state, and they felt good going back to their hotel.

Nino’s goal for himself for the rest of the season is to get his mile to, “four minutes and twenty seconds, my two mile to get below nine minutes, and my 800 to get two flat.”

Jack Arreola’s, ‘27, reaction to them breaking the record was, “Amazing, the guys on that relay team, we all worked really hard together. We pushed through the pain, and we did it.”

Arreola felt like their hard work contributed to them breaking the record, as they had good team bonding, as being really good friends helps out a lot. That’s what Arreola believes made them such great competitors: the fact that they were so close.

As an individual, Arreola felt like he did, “Really good, especially in the four by mile that we got to compete in Mt. SAC. I ran the fastest split, so that was a really good accomplishment for me, and then the four by eight, I didn’t run as well, but I did run fast enough so our team could still break the record,” says Arreola.

Arreola believes he could have done better by having a better mentality going into it, not just considering it as a league meet, but considering it as an opportunity to break a record. He also believes he could have pushed himself mentally more.

For the team to break the record meant a lot to their seniors, as there are two seniors on the team, so it was a good way for them to leave their impact. To Arreola, it was a stepping stone to move up throughout the history of Redwood Track.

Arreola’s goal for the rest of the season is, “To PR in the mile and the 800 for the distance of both those relays, because I think if I just do well in those, then whenever we hopefully run one of those relays again, it’ll just reflect on my time in that, and we can hopefully break another record, our own record again.”

Zack Vargas, ‘26, felt really good when they found out that they had broken the school record, as they walked into Mt. SAC with that goal in mind.

Vargas believes that their hard work contributed to them breaking the record, as it goes as far as effort in practice, when they push each other, having an end goal no matter what.

As an individual, Vargas believes he did, “Good, I ran the anchor league for bulk. So bringing us to the school records was pretty cool. I definitely think I performed well, and I know there’s more opportunity for me to perform better. As the solo effort and what I had on at Mount SAC, I definitely performed my best.”

Vargas believes he could have done better by competing a little bit better. Zack believes that if he had a little bit more competition to push himself, it would have been easier to get a faster time.

For what it meant to Vargas for the team to break those records, it felt good to have the record with their names in the books. As a senior going out this year, it was good to know that they were part of history.

Vargas’s goal for himself for the rest of the season is to, “Get to state, I believe that I can get to state for the 4×800. My overall goal is to go to state for the 600 meter, but to take the team to state and to make a name for all of us.”

Vargas’ goal for the team for the rest of the season is to place in the top three at the Valley Championship, and hopefully bring home a shiny plaque.

Vargas had one more thing to say, “Go Rangers!”

Coach TJ Sugg believes their hard work contributed to them breaking the record because they have a great combination of talented runners, hard workers, and smart racing. They knew they had the potential to break the record, and they went out and executed.

What Coach Sugg believes they did best was, “They all raced very intelligently. I think that each leg kind of saved their best effort for the final lap, and placed themselves in the race well, so that we were kind of in competition for in the race the whole time, they just positioned themselves,” says Sugg.

The only thing Sugg believes they could have done better is not being nervous in the heat of the moment in that level of competition.

As a coach, to watch the boys break a school records, he says he felt, “Really proud of them and happy for them to see their hard work pay off in a more tangible way for them to be able to say that they have that record, knowing that you know they’re going to leave, you know, the two seniors will leave with something you know that they’ve left behind, and the juniors can point to that record and say that they’ve left their mark on the school.”

Coach Suggs’ goal for the boys this week, on Friday, is to focus on an event of their choice to see if they can get some good times, and see if they can PR again in races they are going to attend. He wants them to get as far in the post-season as they can.

Suggs’ goal as a coach for the rest of the season is to, “Try to help the kids finish as strong as they can. And on a high note,  it’s a long season, and I mean, we still have a whole month of May, basically, to go. So, trying to just keep them invested and help them reach their goals. Just try to position them strategically as best we can,” says Sugg.

Coach Sugg had one last thing to say, “Just always feel very blessed to be coaching these kids. It’s not every team and coach that gets such a nice blend of hard workers and talent, and we really feel like it’s been an easy job coaching them.”

Tags: Breaking record, fabian anguiano, rangers, Redwood, redwood athletics, redwood gigantea, redwood high school, redwood journalism, redwood sports, relay, rhs, sports, Track & Field, visalia ca