Track and Field Invitational Recap
Ella Nestingen
Because of spring break, and the meet being 90 minutes away, today's invitational had much lower attendance than usual. But still, the Bulldogs had some astounding performances, personal records were made, and fun was had. This invitational was unique in many ways, including record low temperatures in Bellingham, various new events, and competitions against a variety of new schools.
The meet began with the men’s and women’s steeple chase. The Bulldogs chose not to participate in this event due to a lack of training and the animal rights violations that it connotes. The steeple chase is a 2000m race in which athletes jump over various hurdles and water. Garfield was surprised to learn that live fish were in the water, subject to the cold conditions, sharp spikes of athletes shoes, and continuous splashing. Anya Ceballos-Baliga, a sophomore at Garfield, and a top 300m hurdler was considering running the steeplechase. When asked about the event, she said, “I think it is for reaction because they are turning a horse racing thing into a human race.” She went on to discuss the fact that there were living fish in the water as, “a form of animal endangerment and animal abuse. It is cruel and a very odd sight.” If conditions for the fish are improved, Garfield will consider entering runners next year.
The second event of the day was the 4x200m relay, in which no Garfield students participated. However, none of the performances matched up to the Garfield 4x200m on Thursday, and Garfield still has the #1 seed in the Metro League and 3A State.
The next event was arguably one of the most exciting for Garfield of the day. The 4x800 is an event that is not raced at league meets, so when discovering that it was going to be at the Birger Solberg invitational, the Bulldogs jumped on the opportunity. It was a star-studded team of Lucas Carroll, Sam Cetron, Kamil Zeribi, and William Phillips Nichols. Despite being in second for the first 800m, Garfield quickly pulled ahead to an astonishing lead, destroying all opponents in their track, winning the race with a time of 8:27.83, setting a new Garfield record, and becoming 2nd in 3A State. When talking with Zeribi after the race, he said, “Shorewood had one leader who took it out super fast, but the rest of their runners didn’t really stand a chance.” When asked if there were moments where the Garfield team felt their lead was being challenged, Zeribi responded that there were “absolutely none. It was a pretty blown away race if I do say so myself.” Although cocky at some points, Zeribi also noted, “It was running in circles, it’s the exact same every time. It was just a good opportunity to run with the boys.” Garfield’s girls 4x800 team also had a good race and placed 6th.
In both the boys and girls 1600m, the Bulldogs faced some tough opponents from around the state, so were not able to pull of any top tier performances. The same happened in the 100h, 300h, and 400m.
In the 800m, Lucas Carroll placed 6th with 2:08.20, an astounding performance especially with the 4x800 in the morning as well.
The final notable performance of the day was a 5th place finish in the women’s pole vault by Wren McIntosh.
The Garfield Track and Field team will take spring break to continue to train hard for distance runners, and get some rest for sprinters. The future is bright!
The meet began with the men’s and women’s steeple chase. The Bulldogs chose not to participate in this event due to a lack of training and the animal rights violations that it connotes. The steeple chase is a 2000m race in which athletes jump over various hurdles and water. Garfield was surprised to learn that live fish were in the water, subject to the cold conditions, sharp spikes of athletes shoes, and continuous splashing. Anya Ceballos-Baliga, a sophomore at Garfield, and a top 300m hurdler was considering running the steeplechase. When asked about the event, she said, “I think it is for reaction because they are turning a horse racing thing into a human race.” She went on to discuss the fact that there were living fish in the water as, “a form of animal endangerment and animal abuse. It is cruel and a very odd sight.” If conditions for the fish are improved, Garfield will consider entering runners next year.
The second event of the day was the 4x200m relay, in which no Garfield students participated. However, none of the performances matched up to the Garfield 4x200m on Thursday, and Garfield still has the #1 seed in the Metro League and 3A State.
The next event was arguably one of the most exciting for Garfield of the day. The 4x800 is an event that is not raced at league meets, so when discovering that it was going to be at the Birger Solberg invitational, the Bulldogs jumped on the opportunity. It was a star-studded team of Lucas Carroll, Sam Cetron, Kamil Zeribi, and William Phillips Nichols. Despite being in second for the first 800m, Garfield quickly pulled ahead to an astonishing lead, destroying all opponents in their track, winning the race with a time of 8:27.83, setting a new Garfield record, and becoming 2nd in 3A State. When talking with Zeribi after the race, he said, “Shorewood had one leader who took it out super fast, but the rest of their runners didn’t really stand a chance.” When asked if there were moments where the Garfield team felt their lead was being challenged, Zeribi responded that there were “absolutely none. It was a pretty blown away race if I do say so myself.” Although cocky at some points, Zeribi also noted, “It was running in circles, it’s the exact same every time. It was just a good opportunity to run with the boys.” Garfield’s girls 4x800 team also had a good race and placed 6th.
In both the boys and girls 1600m, the Bulldogs faced some tough opponents from around the state, so were not able to pull of any top tier performances. The same happened in the 100h, 300h, and 400m.
In the 800m, Lucas Carroll placed 6th with 2:08.20, an astounding performance especially with the 4x800 in the morning as well.
The final notable performance of the day was a 5th place finish in the women’s pole vault by Wren McIntosh.
The Garfield Track and Field team will take spring break to continue to train hard for distance runners, and get some rest for sprinters. The future is bright!