This was a home tri-meet between Portola High, Villa Park High and Beckman High on Feb. 27. Their first league meet was at home on March 20 against Woodbridge High.
Juniors sprinter Taylor Nguyen and thrower Preston Ng were the athletes of the meet. Nguyen set a school record in the 300-meter hurdles with 49.95 seconds, and Ng set the eighth longest shot put length in Portola High history.
Seven other Bulldogs set performances in the Portola High top ten all-time school records. This includes distance runners freshman Audrey Lin and sophomores Karly Chokry and Shriya Vishwanathan in the 400-meter dash and 800-meter run, 1600-meter run and 1600-meter run, respectively; sprinters freshman Laila Shaikh and junior Jonathan Chen in the 100-meter dash and 300-meter hurdles, respectively; thrower and sophomore Micheal Ahn in the discus; and jumper and senior Kaden Orosz in the long jump.
“We always have our first meet against Villa Park since that was where I coached before I came here,” head track and field coach Cale Kavanaugh said. “I think this group of athletes that we have this year is really organized and focused, and I felt like this meet really showcased that.”
The strong leadership of team captains can be highly attributed to the achievements of the team, who have been meeting regularly and taking on a bigger role, according to Kavanaugh. This has allowed the structure of the team to be more organized.
“The thing that I keep telling [team captains] this year is that this team is their team,” Kavanaugh said. “With this team that we have this year, I really wanted to give our captains a lot more ownership over what the team looks like.”
Competing in the girls’ varsity 1600-meter run for the first time, Chokry was able to set the sixth-fastest time for the event and place third. She felt that the support of her teammates and distance track captains helped her adjust to the sport since she joined later than most sophomores.
“I was really scared I would be last place, but actually, it wasn’t as bad as I thought, and it was actually pretty fun and intense,” Chokry said. “But our distance track people are really nice, and it’s easy just to be friends with them, so it doesn’t matter really what place you get, as long as you have fun and you have their support.”
The support of the team helped new and returning athletes adjust to track and field season, especially those who changed events or are coming from different sports. High jumper, former distance runner and junior Connor Chen felt the same way as he tried out new events this year. Chen said one of his goals was to make new friends with others who participate in his events this season since this is his first time trying the high jump.
Track and field aims to continue their three-year girls’ and four-year boys’ track and field Pacific Coast League champion winning streak and for more Bulldogs to qualify for CIF Division I this year, according to Kavanaugh.
“We’re in the toughest division for CIF, so any of our kids getting to CIF finals is a really big deal,” Kavanaugh said. “We have a handful of kids who have a good shot at getting there, and a couple kids who maybe could go all the way to state. So we’re always trying to help our individuals be successful and see what they can do.”
