Delaney Hennigan (12) and Tobias Rivera Garcia (11) sparked the track team to a season-opening win against Ramona and Mission Vista, March 5 at Westview.
Hennigan ran the 200, 400, and 4×400 relay and won all three events. She beat her goal time in the 4×400 relay.
“I didn’t get a PR from last year, but since it was my first meet of the season I had high expectations for myself,” Hennigan said. “I was so proud of my race, and I think I ran pretty clean.”
Rivera Garcia won his first ever race in the 1600 with a time of 4:36, and also ran in the 4×400 relay, placing third.
“I knew that I had a solid chance of winning, because the times that other people were seeded for were a lot slower than my times,” Rivera Garcia said. “I was trying to get a PR so I kind of went out strong, probably stronger than I would have wanted to go out in. I had to slow down a bit, but then once I slowed down a bit, I maintained that [pace].”
Rivera Garcia said because of his early lead, the gap between himself and the other racers was large.
“The gap was enough that I knew that I could still win because it’s harder to push yourself when you’re alone,” he said. “If the gap was a bit smaller, then I would have been a bit nervous that [the other racers] would be able to pass me at the end.”
Rivera Garcia says that his win made him feel like he is a real competitor for some of the big races, because the winners in long distance races are more definite.
“In long distance, it’s not the same as sprinting, so most of the time it’s either you don’t have a chance of winning at all or there’s a pretty good chance you’re gonna win,” Rivera Garcia said. “The margins of winning are pretty big. It’s like a few seconds and that’s a lot. Whereas in sprinting I feel like a lot can change when you’re in a heat with other people or maybe someone slips or maybe someone has a bad start [In sprinting] when a race is only 11, 12, 13 seconds long, there’s a lot that can change, whereas in long distance it’s kind of more certain. And it made me realize that I’m in contention for some of the faster spots even going against better schools.”
Rivera Garcia said his coaches played a big role in his success building to this meet.
“They help guide us when we’re having issues with our nutrition or racing mentality,” Rivera Garcia said. “During cross country season this year, I had a rough time pushing through the training and it showed in my races. Since then, I’ve worked on it a lot and I think it shows with how solid my first two races of the season were.”
The coaches entered two teams in the 4×400 relay, both a sprint and distance team. Hennigan and Rivera Garcia ran for the distance teams.
Hennigan ran the last leg of the girls distance team relay, winning the race and beating Westview’s sprint team. Her team had been trailing close behind the Westview sprinters for the duration of the relay, but Hennigan was able to race ahead in the final 50 meters with a time of 57.1.
“We have this fun little distance versus sprints rivalry, so [winning] was a super exciting moment for my distance coaches and my distance team,” Hennigan said. “The 400, I would say, is more of a sprint event—so it was a little out of our comfort zones. But the fact that we all banded together to pull it off [made me] so proud of my team and really excited that I pulled off that last leg for them.”
Hennigan said the 4×400 is her favorite race because of the support the runners give to one another.
“I basically had the whole team yelling at me for the last 100 [meters] and I felt so supported,” Hennigan said. “The team environment was just really electric. It just makes it so much more fun of an experience to be racing with that kind of team surrounding you.”
Rivera Garcia also said his teammates helped to motivate him during the 4×400.
“At the end of the race when you’re in pain, you don’t really have an excuse to slow down because you’re like, ‘my teammates are relying on me,’” Rivera Garcia said. “So, you have to keep on pushing through the pain.”
