Track and field team shines at MCAL championships

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Rowan Campbell

Luke Caligari explodes off the starting line at the Viking invite.

The track and field team capped off a 5-2 season at the Marin County Athletic League (MCAL) championships which took place May 5 through May 7. The boys team placed second to Tam High School, and the girls were fifth overall.  

“This was the first MCAL championship meet in three years. 43 Archie Williams athletes competed in the meet and only three had seen this level of competition before, as freshmen. So, this was a new level of track and field competition for most of the team and they brought the fire,” said coach Robyn Berry

On the boys side, the Falcons had many outstanding performances. Among the talented athletes, senior sprinter Max Henzl was crowned champion in three different events, the 100, the 200, and the long jump. Junior Luke Caligari won the 800 meter run in a personal best time of 2:02.41, and senior Nate Wolford took second place in the highly competitive 1600 meter run. 

In the 3200 meter race, seniors Evan Lee and Jonah Grubbs took third and fourth, respectively. In one of the most exciting races of the day, the Falcon’s won the 4×100 meter relay in a winning time of 43.10. 

“I did a lot of events: from discus to jumping over hurdles, and I’d do whatever I had to do for my team to score points, in the end I chose to sprint as well as long jump and really focused on those events so I could go as far as possible with them, hopefully going even past NCS,” Max said. 

On the girls side, sophomore Alexandra Greenwald took second in the 800 meter run, sophomore Dylan Carson took fifth in the 3200 meter run, sophomore Kendall Reidy took fourth in the 100 meter hurdles and junior Piper Preston took third in the 300 meter hurdles. Junior Alyssia Connelly took third in the high jump. 

“My 800 meter race was intense, I decided to pace off the leader of the pack and stay with her for the first lap and when it got to the final stretch of the race I gave it everything I had and ended up passing a runner to get second place,” Alexandra said.

The top runners will race in the NCS championship on Saturday, May 14 at Petaluma High School.