The Minarets track and field team has started off dominantly this 2022 season. After two meets with full team participation at Central Valley Christian and Yosemite High School, the boys' team has taken a commanding lead over the rest of the West Sequoia League (WSL), and the girls aren’t far behind. The boys’ team has many athletes with the fastest time in the league for their respective events, including freshman Jabari Gomez in the 400-meter, sophomore Robbie English in the 800-meter, and senior Kalé King in the 3200-meter race. The boys’ 4x400-meter relay team is also very solid, with the fastest time in the league at 3:54.53 minutes. The boys have many more athletes occupying the top 5 in their events, including seniors Noah Segura and Danny Saenz who currently hold the second and third place in the 100-meter race. King holds second place for the mile (1600-meter) race as well. The boys’ team is looking to capture the first track and field WSL championship in Minarets history, but are also in contention for the valley title after competing strongly against D5 rivals like Liberty High School.
The girls’ team has not been as successful as the boys’ team thus far, but still has much time to improve with plenty of good athletes, including senior Carolyn Fay who currently holds third place in the women’s 400-meter, and senior Kendra Battcher who holds second place in both shot put and discus in the league.
So why is this track team so much better than previous years? The answer is Coach Jason Mironyuk. Coach Mironyuk takes an approach of recruiting every athlete he can and this strategy gets results. In track, just entering a runner in a scarcely populated race can earn points, so having as many athletes as possible is important. This adds up and pays dividends for the team, allowing them to win meets. Coach Mironyuk also puts every athlete in the best position possible to succeed, according to their skillset. The other factor in the team’s success is just a large number of fast runners at the school. Because there is a large variety of differently skilled athletes at the school and they compete to win in every race, sprint, relay, and distance, the Minarets track and field team is on pace to do big things this year.
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