The annual Redondo Track festival, formerly known as the Nike Track Festival, took place on March 7th and 8th. The meet hosted more than 4,000 athletes from over 100 high schools and is the biggest RUHS track meet of the year.
Still coming off of the flu, senior Joshua Thomas felt that he didn’t run his event, the mile, to the best of his ability.
“I knew I was sick going into it, and I took a lot of medicine. But one good thing was that I didn’t give up and I didn’t use that as an excuse when I was running,” Thomas said. “I expected [the event] to be really fast, and it was. But I was hoping for me to be able to conquer that sickness a little more, and I didn’t, but it’s alright, move on to next week.”
Although Thomas didn’t feel as accomplished with his event as he wished, he saw it as a good turning point for the team, to drive stronger for the rest of the season.
“It’s one of our season openers and this is when we’re getting to our mid-season stretch. So we’re just gonna build the fitness and see where it goes,” Thomas said.
Sophomore Ewa Lim ran the 1600-meter race at the meet, which she said to be her first event “in a while,” and has looked forward to the track festival since last season.
“I knew it was going to be big and a lot of people from different schools are gonna come here, and it’s the most fun track event in the whole school year,” Lim said.
Competing in 5 different events, including the 4×1, the 100-meter race, the 800-meter SMR, the 4×4 and the long jump, sophomore Riley Durepo was very involved in this year’s track festival.
“I got a lot of sleep, I carb loaded, took some Advil and some coffee and mentally prepared myself,” Durepo said. “My 4×1 team, we struggled, but we persevered, we finished our race, so feeling good so far.”
Even after all the events Durepo participated in, she stayed for the rest of the meet to volunteer and spend time with her team, athletes from other schools and others who came to the festival to support.
“I love the Nike Festival. It’s always so fun to hang out here. I usually volunteer for the whole day, I’m here until the last event. Everyone’s so nice here, and it’s just a fun time,” Durepo said.
Senior Adam Divinity got snapped for second, getting third place overall in the 1600-meter. Besides his event, he reflected on the environment of the track festival, comparing it to previous years.
“I think [the track festival] is great, but I wish we had the protein bars from last year because it made everyone come to one spot and mingle and have fun, but it’s really good,” Divinity said. “The vibes are good, it’s a sunny day, Taylor Swift is playing, so it’s all right.”
