Coaches: Jacob Holloway (head coach), Ashley Bordy (distance), Chris Collodel (throws), Andrew Guevara (hurdles), Ricky Holloway (throws and jumps), Gideon Pichardo (distance)
Top Returning Players: Zach Cardona (11), Evan Kim (12), Silas Procaccini (12), Elias Vorathavorn (10)
Top Newcomers: Mohamad Ibrahim (11), Caleb King (12), Gavin Martinez (9), William Tat (11)
Last Season: The 4×400-meter relay team won its Freeway League event and the boys placed third overall behind Sonora in first place and Fullerton in second with a 3-2 record. Cardona, Kim, junior Charles Kearney and senior Micheal Amescua qualified for the CIF preliminaries based on their Freeway League performance along with then-senior Victor Lang.
Outlook: Holloway said he hopes more experienced athletes will guide newcomers to become the last school to win a Freeway League title before releaguing starts next school year.
“We’ve got a lot of returners coming back, and so we’re looking for them to be leaders and show the underclassmen how to approach the sport,” he said. “It’s a little different than other [sports]; there’s a lot of downtime, so you have to be ready to switch on and perform when the time comes.”
By downtime, Holloway means the gap between meets is wider compared to other sports games and matches.
Of the events, the coach said he thinks the team could improve most in short sprints and distance.
“Distance [runners have] been practicing since December, and [sprinters] have been practicing since the beginning of January, meeting four or five days a week,” Holloway said. “We’re taking the preseason very seriously and trying to get as much work done as we can early in the season so that we can see the effects later in the season.”
Specifically, the head coach said for short-distance runners, he emphasizes timed sprints and weight room activities, while he has distance runners log anywhere from 25-40 miles a week.
Additionally, to win the league title, he said the team needs a positive mindset.
“[It’s] getting the best athletes in the school to join the team and keeping them fresh, happy and healthy,” Holloway said. “Track and field needs to be enjoyable at our level [for athletes to] be successful.”
The team competed in the Whittier Cal High All-comers Meet in the preseason on Saturday, Jan. 27, at California High School against 24 other schools, the head coach said.
“Everybody did OK; it’s preseason though, so we’re not looking for that personal best at that point,” Holloway said. “It’s really just to see where you are and to get a gauge on how it’s going so far this year, so they did well.”
MileSplit California provided the following non-league results:
The Lancers also competed in a dual meet against Rowland High School at the latter’s campus on Wednesday, Feb. 21, in which three runners placed first in the 100-meter, 200-meter and high jump events.
They also participated in a Saturday, Feb. 24, tri-meet against Fullerton and Troy on the Tribe’s campus, where the Lancers took first place in the 100-meter, 200-meter and 400-meter races and the 4×100 relay, discus, high jump, long jump and triple jump events, winning the event overall.
Procaccini, a fourth-year runner who competes in 1,600-, 3,200- and occasionally 800-meter races, said he wants to help newcomers to achieve their goals.
“I want to make an impression on the younger runners; I want them to know that hard work and determination can get you where you are,” the senior said. “I see them struggling, and it’s kind of hard to watch, so I have to be out there and be that light for them to see.”
Additionally, Procaccini, who previously made CIF on the cross-country team in 2021, hopes to qualify for the competition in his last year on the team.
“I feel really disappointed with last season; I wanted to improve by a large amount, but I didn’t quite reach the improvement that I wanted, and so this season I’m looking for a big change,” he said. “I want to make CIF for the first time [in track and field], I kind of got carried into it in cross country, but I didn’t earn it on my own; I want to be able to earn it on my own this year and just make a statement as the best distance runner in the school.”
Kim, who competes in triple, long and high jumps, the 100-, 200- and 4×100-meter relays, said he hopes to make CIF again and improve his performance.
“I’ve been just practicing a lot over the summer,” he said. “I was training by myself to get better, just doing a lot of drills to increase my jump.”
The Lancers will compete in their first Freeway League tri-meet against Troy and Buena Park on Wednesday, March 13, at the Buena Park High School stadium at 3:30 p.m.
