Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Valley Christian Track & Field: Girls Season Preview

DSC_0876San Jose, CA - The Valley Christian girls Track & Field team return a talented core of athletes that are coming off a strong showing in 2014 and look to once again challenge for a spot on the podium at the CCS Championship.

Last season the Lady Warriors finished third in the WCAL with five individual league champions and numerous top three finishes. Their efforts had them in the running for a league championship and established them as one of the top teams in the league. The post-season saw the girls Track & Field team finish fifth at the CCS Championship, just five points away from a podium position. The team looks to improve upon last season’s success: in 2015 the girls return all but two athletes who scored in the WCAL final and all scorers from the CCS Championship.

THROWS
Valley Christian has quickly become a hotbed for the throws featuring some of the best shot putters in the country. The duo of Elena Bruckner and Ronna Stone led the team to a fifth place finish in the section championship last season, becoming the first teammates to finish 1-2 since 2008. Bruckner and Stone, both state qualifiers, scored all 32 points for the Warriors in last year’s CCS Championship. Bruckner, the defending CCS champion in both the shot put and discus, landed on the State Podium with a fourth place finish in the shot put and is the top returner in this season. Stone finished the season with the #1 discus mark in the section and is the top returner in that event, respectively. The early season has been impressive for both Bruckner and Stone who have already set personal bests this spring!

JUMPS
Elane Ma returns as the Warriors top jumper from last season scoring in both the high jump and long jump at the WCAL Finals. Ma jumped a personal best 16’ 11.75” in the Long Jump and 4’ 10” in the high jump. Lydia Sum also saw success in the triple jump, the school record holder has a personal best 36’ 8.5” set as a sophomore. Up-and-comers include Allison Cong, who in the long jump last season nearly topped the 15 foot mark as a freshman and Sydney Clark and Camille Johnson who both broke 30 feet in the triple jump. Impressively, Johnson is also a nationally ranked Javelin thrower (111-11 personal best), qualifying for the Junior Olympic Nationals last summer.


2014 WCAL Finals (96)SPRINTS
Losing top two sprinters from last season the Lady Warriors look to reload in 2015. Nicole Favre returns as a top 400 runner and will join Sonjali Padalkar who returns as one the top 100 sprinters. Padalkar was major contributor to the sprint team last season, anchoring the 4 x 100 meter relay, whose time of 49.34 ranks #7 all-time for the Warriors. Other top returners include Sydney Clark, Tiffani Johnson and Melissa Reese.

The Warriors also return a strong core of hurdlers that boast both champions in the 100 hurdles at the Varsity and JV levels. Lydia Sum is the defending WCAL Champion at 100 hurdles, Nicole Shak won the JV division as a freshman. Top finishes also came in the 300 hurdles with Sum scoring in the varsity race while Nicole Shak, Caitlyn Rowland and Bekah Bruckner all scored in the JV division.


DISTANCE
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Ashley Lara returns this season to defend her WCAL title at 800 meters. Lara finished ninth in last year’s CCS Trials where she ran a personal best 2:18.73, which currently ranks #6 all-time for the Warriors. Showing an impressive range she also ran 5:12.7 for 1600 and flashed some speed running 60.66 in the open 400 meters, the seventh fastest time in school history. Also returning in the distances, Kailey Eddy enters the season with personal bests of 5:34 for 1600 meters and 11:48 for 3200 meters. Vanessa Giacalone and Leia Wang add depth the distance squad joining an impressive group of younger runners that were all key contributors on this year’s state qualifying cross country team.

The Valley Christian Track & Field team opens it's season March 7th at the Willow Glen and Dan Gabor Invitationals.

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