Gabe Weisiger at the finish line. Photo by Alex Alvarez (L18)
By Avery Colborn (L16)
Ojai Valley School runners and throwers brought home nearly a dozen medals this past week at the school’s first Omega League final track meet with two athletes earning spots in CIF preliminary meet at Carpinteria High on Saturday, May 4.
The two headed to CIF are junior Corbin Muller, who dominated the 100-meter race finishing first in 11.39 seconds, and sophomore Adam Pepper-Macias (L17), who earned first place in discus with a distance of 94’ 8”.
“I love running the 100 because it’s such a fast race and getting all of your energy out in just a few seconds feels so good,” Muller said. “I feel like I could have improved, but other than that I feel like I did fine for my first track experience. It’s CIF and that’s a pretty cool thing…to be able to go to.”
Due to league realignment in 2014, OVS’s decades-long track participation in Condor League track came to an end, bringing in turn an end to the school’s track program. But, since the school’s entry into the Omega League this year, track was able to start up again after a four-year hiatus.
Nearly a third of OVS Upper Campus students participated in track and many of them displayed incredible performances at their last meet of the season.
Several boys in the 400-meter race earned new personal record times, including an impressive performance by sophomore Gabe Weisiger (L17), who ran a PR of 56.69 seconds, earning a second-place medal and missing out on first place by only six hundredths of a second.
Weisiger also won a third-place medal in the 800-meter, where he earned another personal best time of 2:22, and anchored the 4 X 400-meter relay team.
In the 1600-meter run, sophomore Ethan Gao (L17) demonstrated his grit by running a PR of 5:44 and finishing in sixth place.
On the girl’s side, the 4×400-relay team earned third-place medals. The team consisted of senior Nanako Tatewaki and juniors Yui Kikuchi, Angela Qu and Caspian Ellis (L16).
Kikuchi also ran a new best time of 1:15 in the 400-meter while sophomore Bella Slosberg (L17) earned a PR of 14:34 and a second-place medal in the 3200-meter race.
After leaving it all on the track after their final meet of the season, the athletes are happy with the results from their successful season and the returning students look forward to running again next year.
“For our first year back, and our first year in the Omega League, I couldn’t be prouder of how out athletes performed,” OVS track coach Fred Alvarez said. “Nearly every runner and thrower set a personal best at the league final. You can’t ask for more than that.”
