First distance all-comers meet at FVHS

By Heather Carr

Last Friday, the Fountain Valley track team hosted its first distance carnival from 6 to 8:30 p.m., where the track was lit up by four portable lights, and athletes warmed up while music blared from the sound system. This was the first all-comers meet of the pre-season for both the cross-country and track teams, and an opportunity for fast times and fun with teammates.

“The guys are gonna run faster in this environment than if we put them on a time trial,”said Coach JD Krawczyk. “It’s just a nice atmosphere for them to run fast because they’re definitely running faster than if we said, ‘just run a mile on the track.'”

Although the meet only included the 1600, the 800, and the 3200 events, runners reported fast times and high expectations for the 2014 track season. “I think that if we keep running these times this year, we’ll have a good year,” predicted Mariana Chavez (’16). Besides  both the boys and girls track teams, there were few other participants from others schools in the Sunset League, along with a few FVHS alumni, such as former runners Jay Bonthius (’11) and Max Chern (’12).

Top performances from the meet came from Natalie Grohman (’15) who ran a 5:29 for the 1600 and a 2:29 for the 800, and Galyn Nash (’15) who ran a 2:14 for the 800.

Even for those who didn’t perform to their standards are looking forward to dominating the upcoming season, Marilyn Kitaya (’16) said, “You don’t have to be great to start, you just have to start to be great.”