Husky track team has strong start to season
By Donald Qualls
On March 17, three members of Mammoth’s 10 member track squad celebrated St. Paddy’s Day by traveling to Boron High School to participate in Boran’s Invitational Track meet. Eight high schools from the Desert Mountain League participated with more than 150 athletes showing up to represent their individual high schools. This was the first competition of the year for Mammoth’s young Husky squad.
Although small in number, the Husky athletes quickly became noticed and let the competition know they were there to make their hometown proud. Sophomore Toby Qualls and Freshman Trevor Meads started things off in the 1600 meter (one mile run). Conditions were windy on the dirt track, making the course unfavorable for fast times but Qualls
raced out and made it look easy, winning the one mile race with a 4:59 time. No other runner was even close. Meads took home eighth place, finishing in top half, with a time of 6:13.
It was then Sophomore Sydney Knadlers turn to run the 1600 meter race in the female division. Knadlers is well known for being a great athlete, but she had never stepped onto a high school track, let alone run in a invitational. No one knew how she would react or run.
The advice from the side line was simple: stay back at the number five position for the first two laps around the track. After the second lap, if you feel bad, slow down. If you feel good, pick off one girl at a time for the next two laps. “We held our breath,” stated track coach Brian Pennington. Knadlers felt good, however, and picked off all four girls in front of her, passing the last one with only 200 yards to go. Knadler won the race in a time of 6:37. She then tried her hand at the 200 meter race and placed second.
Qualls finished the day by racing in the 3200 meter, or two mile, event. All coaches felt it was a three man race between Mammoth, Desert Christian, and Vasquez high school. Vasquez’s runner, a senior, is a state caliber runner, and very badly wanted to beat Qualls in this race. It turned into a two man race with Qualls and the Vasquez runner nearly lapping every other runner at least once. Qualls led the race from start to finish, but had to hold off the Vasquez runner’s determined bids to take over the lead. Each time, Qualls would hold the lead, but you could see the pain in both boys’ faces. The race came down to a sprint for the finish line with Qualls winning the race in a time of 10:33.
Mammoth entered the event with three runners and came away with four medals and a lot of respect. Mammoth’s next race will be in Bishop, on March 24, at 3 p.m.
