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“Going the Distance” |
El Segundo has, with all honesty, not been noted for its distance runners. The track and field team has been looked down upon as the otherspring sport. From a team of about 8 or 9 runners just two years ago to a team consisting of upwards of twenty runners, the El Segundo High School Distance team is developing in leaps and bounds.
When long distance coach Bill Consolo began to coach for El Segundo High School in 2000, he reported seeing barely anyone interested in running distance, “We started with pretty much nothing and no one. The kids had their heart in it, but when you have under ten people it is near impossible to do anything.” This poor attendance on the distance team was to tarnish the name of El Segundo distance runners, who had dominated in CIF finals on numerous occasions just three decades before.
Just two seasons later, however, the Eagles distance squad has grown at a tremendous rate. This year, the team has more than doubled in size, ability, and determination. A pleased Consolo noted that, “Just two years ago I didn’t have enough people to put in races, now I have to worry about making sure everyone will have a race to run.” With this sudden influx of new runners, the distance team was poised for a renaissance of sorts – which is exactly what has happened.
This occurred following a major disappointment at this year’s meet against Hawthorne, where Eagles suffered a humiliating loss. Following this blow, the team began to “gel” together more and more. Following harder practices and pep talks by the coaches, the team began to gain a drive to win. The temptation to win seemed to be an uphill battle, as there is no cross-country team for distance runners to use as pre-season training. This sentiment was soon to become a David and Goliath battle, with the odds pointing in favor of the Eagles.
With new talent such as sophomores Adrian Rai-Doty and Kyle Murray along with freshman Christina Koch the Eagles distance team is becoming a formidable opponent. Consolo stated that, “Adrian is a sophomore beating seniors, and has come to be undefeated for the past four meets. Christina and Kyle have both been great, and are really making a statement for the girls team.” Koch now has the honor of being known as the first girl to run a mile under six minutes during Consolo’s Eagles coaching career.
Now that CIF finals are just around the corner, everyone is wonder about how the Eagle distance squad will perform. Other teams are beginning to notice El Segundo as a threat in the upcoming finals. As head coach David Washington reported, “I have had coaches from several other teams come up to me and say, ‘Hey, since when did El Segundo become such competition?’” Consolo stated that such heavy competition would not be far from the truth come CIF finals, “We are definitely expecting to advance several boys and girls runners past preliminary finals and maybe even past that.”
Whether runners make it into CIF finals or not, the indisputable truth has arisen that the El Segundo distance team is no longer to be overlooked, but rather a power to be reckoned with. In the coming years it seems that the team will only continue to improve. As Consolo stated, “We are becoming competition. We have gotten a taste of victory and we like it. We are finally getting the mindset that we are El Segundo Eagles and we can win.”