The boys’ track and field team has had a strong season, coming 3rd at the Division II state meet with senior Joe Lamburn setting a school record in the mile. Senior captain Aiden Ruiz reflected on their season as a whole.
How is the season going overall?
“So far I would say it’s been very successful. We are 2-2 in dual meets; in one of those meets, we had a lot of injuries and didn’t run people in their main event. It was just supposed to be a tune-up race for us, so we could focus on the other invitationals that we did end up winning. We also ended up winning district relays and districts.”
What was a highlight of the season?
“So far its definitely been winning districts; we won by six points, which in track, isn’t that much, but it was pretty cool to win especially after we lost a couple of dual meets.”
Who are some of your key players?
“[Junior] Miles Lipka is really good at pretty much everything from sprints all the way to mid-distance. He’s been battling with some hamstring issues, but he’s getting back into it, and he’s definitely someone who can contend even at states to try to score us points. [Senior] Joe Lamburn has been very good. He ran 1:57 in the 800m, but he won districts in the mile. [Junior] Max Eigen is our best sprinter. He tore his hamstring so it’s not looking like he’s going to race again this season but when he was racing he was doing really good.”
What was the most challenging part of the season?
“We have had a lot of injuries, especially in distance. We have lost our first and second-best distance runners and Max Eigen also just tore his hamstring, so he will likely be out for the season as did [senior] Cole Gowdy. [Lipka’s] hamstring is torn as well, so he has to come back from that. Injuries were definitely the biggest challenge, so it was a bit of a rough start, but we came back from that.”
What was your team dynamic like?
“We are all very close. We all get along very well, and it’s very nice to come to practice with people that you are very good friends with. Even the throwers and the distance runners are friends. The throwers might not know what’s going on with distance and the distance runners might not know what’s going on with the throwers, but we are all very good friends.”
What is coming up for the team next year?
“It’s definitely going to be a bit of a rebuilding year. There is going to be a lot of really good seniors leaving, but they definitely still have the parts to compete for various titles. They can definitely win the district meet and the league meets if they continue to develop in the way they have been developing. We have some really good underclassmen like [sophomore] Jakob Rochefort. He is our second-best sprinter. He is only a sophomore, and he won the whole league meet as a freshman.”
