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Track |
For the El Segundo track team, this year has truly been a series of defining moments. The season began relatively the same as those in prior years. The only exceptions were the noticeably increased funds, and the size of the team. These positive actions were also met with an overall increase in the strength and abilities of the actual track runners. From the joke it was considered to be in prior years, the track team has been able to rise through the ranks and truly become an adversary for all teams in its league.
Track has long since been an under funded sport, a condition which has taken a great toll on the team. Not only was being under funded a severe blow to the teams already worn equipment, but the team moral was also lowered as district budgeting slowly pinched the flow of monetary support to a trickle. This was counteracted in large part to the diligent work of the coaches in requesting funding. Not only were they successful in giving more resources to the team, but coaches Bill Consolo, David Washington, and Marcela Washington were able to motivate the team to participate in a variety of fund-raisers as well. Through these efforts, the team boosted morale and was able to purchase newer, more effective equipment.
Due to the hard work of the coaches and track members from previous years, the team was able to recruit a team, which was larger than any other team had been in a considerably long time. These new recruits gave the team not only the challenging look that it wanted, but also the boost in the concentration of talent. With all of this new talent, the coaches quickly set into a rigorous training schedule, which brought-out the most in the already talented team. With this, the runners were in the position to make there season noticeable.
The season began slowly, much like those in past years. There were meets and invitationals in which the team faired averagely. The true turning point in the run of the mill season came during one of the team's earlier meets, which was held at Hawthorne High School. The team was noticeably intimidated by Hawthorne's team (an occasion that will happen no longer) and performed, with exception to a few runners, very poorly.
From then it was the teams goal to overcome the generalization the El Segundo track team was nothing to be feared. It was this motivation that set them on the road to success. From then, the team hiked-up their effort and slowly cut their losses from a difference of 60 points, in the early part of the year, to close to 10 points. During final meet of the year, the team was truly put to the test. They were running against Inglewood, a long revered running school. The meet was astounding and come the end, the scores showed that El Segundo had won - a true David and Goliath battle. Following this, the team went on to send a numerous amount of runners to finals, and three beyond that.
In short, the year proved to be a "coming of age" for the track team. They had overcome not only publicity and financial issues, but were also able to shatter the long held belief that El Segundo was nothing to be feared. Sadly, for all other schools, El Segundo track has proved that they are now a force to be reckoned with!