Glendora Track and Field

All of our groups are training now and the training is mandatory

• All distance, throws, returning and newcomers, are training every day.  All returning Sprints/Hurdles/Jumps are training every day.
• Newcomers for Sprints/Hurdles/Jumps begin on Monday, February 6th.  Tryouts will be February 16th/17th.
• Winter Sports Athletes begin training on Tuesday, February 14th.

Complete information on the season here.

All current and prospective GHS Track and Field athletes must sign up for this Twitter feed.  Parents, family and friends of the program are welcome to follow as well.  We’ll use this feed for training updates, team news, links to the website, and reports from meets.  Here’s how:

• To receive as a text message (mandatory for athletes): Text “follow GlendoraTF” to 40404  (Note, you do not need to have a Twitter account to follow via text messaging)
• To follow from Twitter, search for @GlendoraTF and then click on “Follow”

There will be a team meeting for all prospective athletes on Thursday, December 15, at lunch in the GHS gym.

Here are several important details for this year’s team.

Limits on Team Size – We have places for 120 sprinters, hurdlers, jumpers and throwers on the team.  There is no limit for the distance group, but only some of these runners will be eligible to run in away meets.

Returners: Most of the sprinter/hurdlers/jumpers who finished last season with the team have a place on the 2012 team, provided them begin training at the designated date and avoid excessive absences.  All throwers must go through the try out process.  View the list of returning sprinters/hurdlers/jumpers here: 12 SHJ Roster

2011 team members who did not make the list are welcome to try out for this year’s team.

Newcomers - frosh and older athletes who have never participated in track are strongly encouraged to come out and go through the tryout process.  At least 35% of the spots on the team are open to athletes trying out – and we’ll take an unlimited number of distance runners.

Physicals - athletes must pass a physical and complete the GHS 2011-2012 Physical Packet before they can try-out or participate in training.  This may be turned into coaches on the first day of training or to Mrs. Pierce in the GHS Athletics office.  Athletes who have already completed physicals for a Fall or Winter sport this year need to inform Mrs. Pierce and the coaches of this on the first day of training.  Download the physical packet here (Link)

Starting Dates – (Meet at the GHS track) – See roster above for S/H/J groups

• Monday, January 9 – All Distance & Throws; Group 1 of Sprints/Hurdles/Jumps
• Monday, January 23 - Group 2 of S/H/J (qualified returners) and non-roster returning athletes.  Motivated newcomers may petition to start on this day.
• Monday, February 6- Training begins for newcomers in Sprints/Hurdles/Jumps
• Tuesday, February 14- Training begins for athletes on Winter sports teams.
• Thursday/Friday, February 16& 17 - Try Out days.
• Saturday, February 18 – 2011 GHS Track & Field Roster will be posted at glendoratrackandfield.net.

Schedule – we have meets from the first week of March through the first week of May, and our top athletes can qualify to compete through June.   We compete in weekday dual meets in which the entire team takes part, and our better athletes qualify to compete on the weekends.  You can view a provisional 2012 schedule here (Link)

Travel Meet - a Select group of athletes are eligible to take part in our travel meet, which once again will be the Elmer Runge Invite, March 17 at Patrick Henry HS in San Diego.  We will travel the day before, spending the night near the meat location.  Athletes qualified by 1) Qualifying for the Finals at the Baseline League Meet,  2) Being the third year on the team and a senior, & 3) Hitting a performance standard.  You can view the list of qualified athletes here: 2012 Travel Eligible

Uniforms and Gear ­– Athletes purchase and keep their uniforms.  They must also purchase a team warm-up, backpack, and training shirt, along with trainers and spikes or event shoes.  We keep the same design on our gear so these items do not have to be purchased every year.

Fundraising – there is a fundraising expectation, and athletes are expected to help run the SGV Championship meet, our major fundraiser.  There is also a transportation fee.

We have two options for our athletes looking to compete and train over the Summer.

First, Coaches Darin Zabel and Bob Ramsey have formed the Pride Track and XC Club to offer training and competition in track and field over the Summer.  It’s open to GHS athletes, kids from other schools, Goddard and Sanburg grads looking to compete next year, and younger athletes as well – we’re accepting all athletes born between 1993 and 2001.  This is a great chance to get better, try new events and continue to enjoy our wonderful sport

Practices are Monday – Thursday beginning June 20th, and there will be competitions at Mt. Sac on Wednesdays July 6, 13, & 20.

Full info at the club website.

Second, Glendora Cross Country training will begin on Tuesday, July 5.  Athletes new to the sport are strongly encouraged to take part in the Summer program.  Full info at the XC team website.

Senior Anthony Castro was our only qualifying for today’s CIF Divisional Finals held at Cerritos College.  He was the last qualifier into the nine-man field, but his earlier GHS record 4:13.77 at Mt.SAC showed he had the class to contend for a medal.

Anthony ran agressively at the beginning of the race, but it wasn’t his day as he faded to a 9th place, 4:38.00 finish.

Anthony ends his GHS career as the school record holder in the 1600m and 3200m and he’s 8th all-time in the 800m.  Next Fall, he’ll be taking his talents to Berkeley, as he studies and runs at the University of California.

And that’s a wrap

The CIF Southern Section is huge.  If it were a state, it would be the third largest in the country.  So merely advancing to Prelims is better than making the State meet in many states, and making Finals, especially in the upper divisions, is better than making the State final almost anywhere else in the country.

Senior Anthony Castro, our record holder in the 1600m and 3200m, is the only Tartan to earn that honor this year, but this the ninth straight year at least one of our athletes has advanced to this level.  Anthony qualified with a 4:19.37 in the 1600 to grab the 9th and final qualifying spot.  As a measure of how quickly our sport is improving, two other athletes ran under 4:20 and did not advance.

Junior Makayla Jacoub narrowly missed advancing in the pole vault.  Her PR jump of 10’9″ tied her for 10th, but she missed qualifying on the count back.  Erin Bracy was one bar lowers at 10’3″.

Senior Lauren Justus ended her excellent career with non-qualifying efforts in the 1600m and 3200m.  Her 5:11.27 in the 1600 was just under four seconds from advancing.  Lauren will continue her running career next year at Northern Arizona University, where she will be a scholarship athlete.

None of our other athletes were seniors, so they can all make it back!  They were soph boys Cade Lindsay (16.65 110h, 20’5″ LJ) and Sean Williams (51.41 400), soph girls Rocki Bartholomew and Kaylee Fink (111’8″ & 110′ in the discus) and Hannah Nelli (NH HJ), and juniors Blake Mitchell (131’0″ discus) and Brittany Yaxley (15’10 LJ & 32’6-1/2″ TJ).

Full results are here

Eleven Tartans will compete at Saturday’s CIF – Southern Section Division II Prelims at Moorpark High School.  Because of the vast size of our section (bigger than all but three states) and the depth of competition, this is the equivalent of advancing to the State meet almost anywhere else in the country, and advancing to finals is a huge achievement, something we’ve done every year since 2002.

Last year, then junior Anthony Castro ran a strong race to qualify in the 3200m.  He was our only finalist last year, with senior Brad Beckwith (now competing at Azusa Pacific) in the discus and junior Shin Yamamura in the 1600m just missing out.

This year, Anthony is again a likely qualifier in the 1600m and 3200m, where he ranks in the top 9 in both events.  Ranked just outside the the top 9 are senior Lauren Justus (1600m & 3200m), and our pairs of pole vaulters – Makayla Jacoub (Jr) & Erin Bracy (So) and soph discus throwers Rocki Bartholomew & Kaylee Fink. You can view the ranking of qualifying marks here and a (semi-complete) seasonal ranking here.

Admission is $7 ($5 for students) and it’s $5 to park.

You can download meet info here: Prelims 11 Info and directions to Moorpark here: Moorpark Map

Here’s a rough estimate of who’s competing when

• 11:00am – Makayla & Erin in the pole vault, Cade Lindsay (So) & Brittany Yaxley (Jr) in the long jump, and Blake Mitchell (Jr) in the discus.
• 1:20 pm – Lauren in the 1600m
• 1:40 pm – Antony in the 1600m
• 2:20 pm – Cade in the 110m hurdles
• 2:30 pm – Hannah Nelli (S0) in the high jump, Brittany in the triple jump, Rocki and Kaylee in the discus
• 3:00 pm – Sean Williams (So) in the 400m
• 4:45 pm – Lauren in the 3200m
• 5:15 pm – Anthony in the 3200m