Boys Track and Field is currently preparing to begin competing in their season on March 5, 2025, led by their coach, Coach Werner.
Track and Field is the largest coed sport at Aliso Niguel High School. It consists of sprints, distance, hurdles, pole vault, throws and jumps. The boys are led by Coach Lusar, the head coach, and Coach Werner, the boys’ coach.
Athletes will compete for their teams and can earn points by placing in the top three for their events. Five points are awarded to first place, three to second place and one to third place. The sport is also divided by gender and level, with the boys’ and girls’ teams competing separately.
To prepare for their season, the boys track and field team has been training during sixth period and after school on Wednesdays and Fridays. At practice, the team begins warming up by running 2-3 laps on either the turf or track. Then the team begins their dynamic stretching.
Dynamic stretching is a way of warming up that engages the muscles. Oftentimes, the team gathers on the field line and begins to stretch. They continue their warm-up by running quick sprints up the field, in which they increase their speed when nearing the end.
Once the team has warmed up together, they split up into groups based on the athletes’ events. The sprints, hurdles, jumps, throws, distance and pole vault events often train separately and focus on exercises that will help them succeed at meets.
Sprints typically practice with either the endurance or explosive approaches. The endurance approach consists of athletes practicing their distance and endurance when sprinting, which prepares them for meets. The explosive approach utilizes exercises that help with reaction time, which is a necessary component for beginning the sprints.
Jake Ricker (12), a sprinter, says, “I think our varsity team is going to do well. We have a lot of fast runners. I have been working out and training a lot.”
Pole vault begins their training by warming up with the poles and practicing pole sprints. They continue to train by practicing their pole vaulting or running drills that help with speed and height.
Hurdlers will warm up with some hurdle walks to open their hip flexors. The drills they perform help them maintain rhythm when running and aid with step counting. Oftentimes, they perform the same sprints that the sprinters do, but they incorporate the hurdles.
Jumpers can practice their triple jump or long jump into the sandbox a few times and practice step counting. Throwers will oftentimes head down to the weight room to train or the field behind the school to work on shot put and discus throws.
Irfan Navsariwala, the team captain, (12) says, “I think this season we will be really good at all levels. Both teams have a lot of good athletes at all the events. Not only will the team be good this year, but the next few years the track team will do really well.”
The first meet will be on March 12, 2025, at Aliso Niguel High School. They will be competing against Capistrano Valley High School. Both varsity and JV levels will be attending the meet and competing for their teams.
