Hannah Cole
3/2/2024
On leap day February 29th, Ramona track athletes hosted a track meet but did not compete with other teams, they competed against themselves! This included events like sprints, shot put, and long jump; these athletes performed amazingly.
Nick DiPietro, a junior and in his third year of shot put, describes the gist of the sport by saying “You’re pushing a heavy ball far”. He mentioned the challenges of it by saying “You have to push the ball, you can’t just throw it or else it injury. Usually you’re just spinning your body to get extra distance.” Even though it may seem complicated Dipietro enjoys it, “It's fun because it's chill, it's not very competitive so you have fun with other people.”
The ball Dipietro describes is a 1-pound metal ball for the male competitors or an 8.8-pound ball for girls. Shot putters can utilize two different techniques for launching the shot forward and then pushing the ball or spinning using the force created to push it. Did you know shot put originated in 19th-century Scotland?!
In her second year of running track Hallie Bishop, a junior, specifically enjoys relays like the 400-meter race where 4 athletes hand each other a baton and race for 100 meters of track. Like many other athletes on her team she enjoys the competitive aspect of track she says she enjoys racing other competitors during the race.
The track meet was action-packed with many events including sprints. Dominic Cromwell, a sprinter and a long jumper says his favorite part of running is “the adrenaline” and he enjoys sprinting specifically due to its competitive nature. He hopes to go far in track like getting to attend invitational track meets.
Leap day proved to be the perfect day for the track meet as many bulldogs challenged each other with jumping events. Eden Schlondel, a junior, is starting her first season of hurdling and she enjoys seeing her improvement she hopes to continue to see her improvement and go to exclusive meets. She enjoys the company of her teammates as “everyone is just supportive no matter what.”
Pole vaulting is “very technical” as Ingrid Ferguson describes it. She has been working on turning over the bar used for pole vaulting. She uses the pole to push herself up above the bar which sets the height for the competition. Ingrid hopes to vault up to 9 feet and 6 inches to go to finals and compete in CIF championships. Hopefully, she makes that by leaps and bounds!