By: Dominick McCormack and Kiley Langford
Edited By: Krissy Hetherington
West Coast Relays is one of the most competitive meets of the track season. Each year, Buchanan High School hosts over 40 different schools across the state and gives athletes the chance to compete for medals and personal records.
Despite the challenges COVID- 19 has brought about, the Redwood Track and Field team was still given the opportunity to run at this large and competitive meet on May 1st.
Before the meet, Head Coach Travis Roebuck says, “As a coach I am excited to compete at the highest level that our section has to offer. West Coast Relays is the best of the best.”
He continues to add, “It is an honor to qualify 25 Redwood athletes into this meet. It shows the work ethic and determination our student-athletes have put forth this season and highlights the talents of these individuals.”
Going into such a competitive meet is nerve wracking for the athletes. However, Roebuck says, “My only expectation for all invitationals is to allow our athletes to showcase themselves and compete is a positive manner. To me, it’s not about winning invitationals; it’s about making strides to better yourself, compete, at the highest level and prepare for the future.”
Roebuck has remained optimistic considering the unconventional times everyone has been living through, especially the athletes.
He adds, “There is always more work to be done; however, I believe we are in the right place to make this a championship season for Redwood Track and Field.”
Karson Everett, ‘22, is one of many athletes that performed well at West Coast. He competed in the 4x100m relay, the 4x400m relay, and the 100m race.
Reflecting back on the meet, Everett says, “It was cool going to a big meet again and having our whole team do a good job, it made things feel like they were back to normal this season.”
Everett also says, “there was a lot more competition than the other meets, there were way better schools competing, and doing their best.”
AJ Garza, ‘24, got an opportunity to run with the varsity 4×100 team at West Coast Relays. AJ is a freshman and this was the biggest track meet he has ever competed in.
He says, “I was a little nervous because I’m just a freshman, I didn’t expect myself to be competing against these great schools this year.”
Garza felt like the competition was totally different from regular meets, because this meet was an invitational and not just every kid could go compete. You had to qualify in order to go run.
Garza felt good about placing 4th, in his heat in the 100 meter dash. He knows there still is a lot of room for improvement, and he needs to get stronger as well as faster. But he wasn’t bummed about his placing.
Lucky Reyno, ‘22, also stood out at West Coast Relays. He ran with the 4×100 relay team and he ran the 100 meter dash where he took 3rd.
Reyno feels great when he wins or does well at meets. He feels this way because he knows his hard work is paying off. It feels way better competing in big meets because there is a lot more attention, a bigger crowd. There are solid athletes that push you to go harder when you’re competing.
Reyno says, “The competition makes my adrenaline and desire to reach my full potential exceed.
Reyno has competed in other big meets in the past so he knows how the competition is. He knows that the competition at invitational meets is more advanced and higher intensity than duals or tri-meets.
Reyno dedicates his success on the track to sprint coach, Delano Henry. He feels like the intensity and his love for the sport that Henry brings to practices and meets truly takes a toll on him. Henry gives him motivation and the concept that “we are working to get better everyday.”
Sierra Nelson, ‘23, was another athlete that stood out. She competed in the 4x100m relay, the 100m hurdles, long jump, and the 100m race.
After speaking with Nelson about the meet she says, “I feel grateful to be competing and placing at bigger meets. It’s very exciting being in that environment, especially as a sophomore.”
Considering she is only a sophomore, she still has so much more to prove. Last year she was not able to compete like she should have. All Nelson really knows is dual meets.
With that being said, she says, “There was definitely more competition than other meets, which is great because that pushes me to perform better.”
Nelson is taking this track season seriously and she has been putting the work in. Nelson says, “I think my races are a reflection of how much time I put into my events. Staying late at practice and getting extra coaching on the weekends has definitely helped me improve my times and jumps.”
This year has been a great year for Nelson. She has accomplished so many things within this single season. Knowing this she says, “Competing at qualifying meets as a sophomore feels amazing, and it inspires me to work harder when I see other athletes run great races.”
Meet Statistics
Lucky Reyno (‘22), Karson Everett (‘22), Sierra Nelson (‘23), Lionel Inhphom (‘21), Celeste Cabrera (‘22), Krissy Hetherington (‘21), Victoria Nino (‘21), and Angel Perez (‘22) all hit a new personal bests at West Coast.
To take 25 athletes to the West Coast Relay meet and have 8 set a new personal best is a huge accomplishment.
The 4×100 relay teams opened the meet where Redwood Boys took 1st in the Seeded race with a time of 43.92 and the Girls took 2nd also in the Seeded with a time of 52.43.
Lionel Inhphom, ‘21, and Krissy Hetherington, ‘21, both competed in the invitational bracket of the 800m race and ran personal records (PR). Inhphom placed 6th with a time of 1:59 and Hetherington placed 11th with a time of 2:24.
Both of Redwood’s 4×400 relay teams placed extremely well in the Invitational bracket. Invitational is the highest level of competition followed by Seeded then Open.
Hetherington accompanied by Victoria Nino (‘21), Kiley Langford (‘22), and Natalie McDonnell (‘23) ran on this 4×400 team. These girls together placed 4th with a time of 4:12. Hetherington ran a 60-second split and McDonnell ran a 61 split, both were PR relay splits.
For the Boys 4×400 relay, Inhphom accompanied by Edgar Jaurrieta (‘21), CJ Shin (‘22), and Karson Everett (‘22) placed 2nd in Invitational with a season record time of 3:33.
Dominick McCormack (‘21) and Edgar Jaurrieta (‘21) both competed in the invitational bracket for Men’s High Jump. McCormack tied for 1st at 6’5 and Jaurrieta placed 5th at 5’9.
Kaiya Thompson (‘21) placed 5th in High Jump at a height of 4’11 and 9th in Triple Jump with 33′ 11.75, both in the Invitational bracket.
Kylie Cekalski (’22) placed 5th in Seeded High Jump with 4’7 and 9th in Seeded Long Jump with 14′ 11.
Ashton Fajardo (‘23) competed in the invitational bracket for Triple Jump and he placed 10th with 38′ 3.5.
Lucky Reyno, (’22) and Karson Everett (’22) both ran personal records in the 100m Seeded race. Everett got 4th in his heat with a time of 11.08 and Reyno got 2nd in his heat with a time of 11.34.
Adam Garza (’24), also ran in the 100m Open race with a time of 11.92. He took 4th in his heat.
CJ Shin, (’22), ran in the 400m Open race with a season record of 55.69.
Krissy Hetherington (’21), ran in the 400m Seeded race with a PR of 1:01.07 and took 2nd in her heat. Natalie McDonnell (’23), took second in the 400m Open race with a time of 1:03.89.
Redwood had 4 girls race in the Open 100m dash. Sierra Nelson (’23) took third in her heat and 4th overall with a PR time of 13.43. Alysa Betiong (’22), took fourth in her heat with a season record time of 13.55. Kiley Langford (’22), also ran a season record with 13.72. Alia Backlund (’22) ran a season record of 14.24.
Sierra Nelson, (’23), finished second in the Open 100m Hurdles with a time of 17.24. She also jumped 14′ 5 in Seeded Long Jump. Betiong jumped 14′ 11 and finished 10th.
Celeste Cabrera (’22) had a big day as well. She ran a PR of 13.4 in the 100m Seeded race and took third in the Open 200m dash with a time of 27.55.
Victoria Nino (’21), ran a big PR in the 1600m Seeded with a time of 5:25 and she took 6th in her race.
For Shot Put (12lb) Seeded, Jayce Montes (’22), took 4th overall with 38′ 9. Noah Medina (’23) and Angel Perez (’23) both threw 37′ 3. Nizhoni Kears, (’22) placed 6th in Seeded Shot Put for the Girls with 30′ 8.75.
For Men’s Seeded Discus, Perez took 2nd overall with a new PR of 129′ 2. Montes finished with a throw of 113′ 08.
Evan Galley (’24), finished with 17′ 4.75 in Seeded Long Jump
To recap, all of our athletes represented Redwood in the best way possible. After the ever-changing year COVID-19 has caused, our athletes were able to bounce back and perform above and beyond expectations.