When it comes to track, it is most definitely a numbers game. And in McCurdy coach Cecilia Brown’s 15th season, this is the Bobcat boys best turnout.
The team includes 28 members and there are athletes covering each of the events except the 110-meter hurdles.
“It’s kind of nice that the hard work I’ve been putting into this program is paying off,” she said.
With such a strong turnout, Brown is optimistic for what the season holds.
“We’re looking at being a contender in the district this year, which we haven’t had in quite a while,” she said. “And we’re also trying to get as many people qualified for state and on the podium at state. That’s our end goal, Get as many kids placed at state as we can.”
It’s been presenting some interesting situations, she said.
“It’s actually a problem I’ve never had before,” Brown said with a chuckle. “I’ve got too many kids that want to run the same events. It’s a new problem to have but not a bad problem.”
It starts with senior sprinter Jeremaya Roybal, who is also a standout on the baseball team. He has already qualified for the 100-meter dash, in which he took third at state last season, and the 200, while anchoring the relays in both events.
Right behind him, junior and fellow baseball player Emelio Espinoza is nearly there in qualifying for the 100 and 200 and he leads off both relays.
In the distance events, sophomore Justin Knight has already qualified in both the 800 and 3,200 runs, while senior Diego Padilla and junior Ethan Bolton are turning into solid javelin throwers. Bolton, who is another Bobcat baseball player and senior Ryan Montoya, are also strong longer jumpers.
As for the girls, the turnout is a lot smaller, Brown said, with only 14, which includes a number of newcomers and eighth graders.
Still, buoyed by the Class 2A cross country state champions, McCurdy can expect to do well in the distance events, she said.
“The core of the team is the distance runners and they have been together quite a while,” Brown said. “We have a really strong distance program at McCurdy.”
And that leads to some buoyed hopes for the group.
“We do have high expectations for them this year,” the coach said. “We have a little bit of a target on our backs this year because we did so well in a couple of events last year. But this group of girls is very dedicated and are hard workers. That helps in our expectations for them.”
The group is led by sophomore Marisol Serna, who is the returning state champ in the 3,200 and she also was fifth in the 1,600.
Then there is sophomore Avery Knight, Justin Knight’s twin sister, who was third in the 800; junior Kaylee Martinez and senior Audrey Cordova, who was the cross country leader by taking fourth overall. The quartet won the 4×800 last season and is the prohibitive favorite to do so again this season, especially with runner-up Academy for the Classics and Technology moving up a classification.
“I think we really want to be able to win again for the 4×800 because it’s Aubrey’s last year,” Serna said. “We’ve been running together since I was in the fifth grade so we want to be able to get that last win as a team.”
The set up of the team works out very well as lead-off runner Martinez provides the opening kick, followed by Serna, who maintains the tempo, then Knight — a true 800 runner — kicks it in with her technique and Cordova finishes it off with a tough sprint.
And the latter is what really brought the smile and tears of joy last season, she said.
“It was up to Aubrey and it was really close,” Serna said. “But on that last 200, Aubrey just put on the jets and we got it. It was pretty close. It was such a good, happy feeling.”