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By Laura Zhen
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Apr. 27, 2009 |
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When Freddie Mercury from Queen sang “Another One Bites the Dust,”
he could have been describing the opponents of this year’s Cardinal
track team.
Galileo, Lincoln, Burton and ISA all bit the dust on April 16 at Kezar.
When Freddie Mercury from Queen sang “Another One Bites the Dust,” he could have been describing the opponents of this year’s Cardinal track team.
Galileo, Lincoln, Burton and ISA all bit the dust on April 16 at Kezar. Even though seniors 100-meter hurdlers Michael Wu and Victor Chin both had a hard time clearing the hurdles, some peopled suspect that the crew in charge of setting up the hurdles may have accidentally misplaced the hurdles. In any case, the other teams were so slow that the Lowell runners still blew them out of the water.
These victories followed success at the St. Francis Invitational in Mountain View on April 4, where sophomore Katherine Jarvis dashed into fourth place in the girls’ varsity 400-meter race. In the frosh-soph girls 300-meter hurdles, sophomore Katherine Gao came in second place, only .63 seconds behind the runner from Carondelet. Sophomore Leo Harrington also performed well at the meet, placing third in the frosh-soph boys 800-meter run and sixth in the mile run.
The team certainly did not come across like fools on April 1. Junior Eva Gao won the girls varsity 300-meter hurdles, followed by sophomore Corey Worthington, who took a notable first win in the frosh-soph boys 3200-meter race. Although junior star Safa Mannah came in second place by a tenth of a second in the 400-meter dash, head coach Andy Leong still shouted, “Static Shock strikes again!” referring to Mannah’s striking resemblance to the animated superhero. Mannah may not possess the ability to manipulate electromagnetism like his doppelganger, but he sure is lightning fast.
Leong also recognized other athletes for their outstanding performances. He chose three track stars to compete at the Stanford Invitational on March 28 — senior Wang Han, senior Nate Banks, and Jarvis. According to Leong, the track team's fund had to cover the cost for each runner to qualify for the invitational, $15. “I’m not going to throw money around,” he said. “I’m only going to pay for those who are committed.”
Han came in at 44th place in the boys 100-meter dash, while Banks ran the boys 400-meter dash and placed 16th. Jarvis missed the girls 400-meter race, according to Leong. “She messed up and came too late,” he said.
Some athletes did not disappoint. In the state-wide Dublin Distance Festival on March 21, junior track star Tamara Purpura made San Francisco proud in the girls 800-meter race, crossing the finish line first at an impressive time of 2:17.43 — 4.04 seconds ahead of the second place runner from Castro Valley. In Leong’s opinion, Purpura is the fastest 800-meter runner in the San Francisco AAA.
On that same day, athletes also ran at the second annual Adam Banks Legends of San Francisco Challenge. The girls’ varsity team placed second with 69 points, right after Lincoln’s 77 points. The girls’ frosh-soph team came in a respectable third place behind Berkeley and Lincoln. Most impressive was the boys’ varsity team’s first place win with 54 points.
Of the 16 events in track, Leong said the team’s weakest event was the pole vault. The team is doing well overall, but the team is not up to par with the bar. “We only have one pole vaulter,” he said.
Though the team will not be vaulting to victory, they are running, jumping, hurdling and discus throwing through the season. On your mark, get set, go — to the team’s next meet 9 a.m. tomorrow at Montgomery High for the Viking Invitational.
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