New school record set for shuttle hurdles
On April 16, sophomores Katie Hageman, Tori Wong, Danielle Cherry and Lisa Takai broke the frosh soph school record for the shuttle hurdles event at the Mt. San Antonio College (SAC) Relays. The Mt. SAC Relays is a varsity invitational in which all events are meant to be run by varsity teams. They competed as the only frosh-soph team in their race, earning fourth place out of eight teams. The team of four finished with a time of 1:27, two seconds faster than the previous record. Shuttle hurdles is an uncommon event in high school track and field meets. During dual meets, in which two schools compete against each other, only the 100 meter and 300 meter hurdle events are completed. The Peninsula track and field team has the opportunity to compete in shuttle hurdles only at large events such as the Mt. SAC Relays and the last time it was run was in 2013. With this in mind, the runners practiced vigorously to be recognized for their success in the event.
“We all really wanted to focus on leaving an impact at Peninsula,” Wong said. “We decided that since we don’t run shuttle hurdles that often we would go for it.”
Takai, Cherry and two freshmen first ran in the shuttle hurdles event during the Paramount Relays in March and almost broke the school record. Adding Wong and Hageman to the team gave them the final push they needed to become record breakers.
“As a freshman, I remember looking at the record board and admiring all of the athletes on there,” Takai said. “I am so happy that future athletes can see our names and possibly feel the same way.”
The team practices daily, working with hurdles and doing sprint workouts to prepare for competition. Track and field coach Otis Burrell commends them on their dedication to training.
“The most difficult aspect of shuttle hurdling is being able to time the incoming runner and not false start,” Burrell said. “This is their second year and they have worked hard to learn that.”
While attempting to achieve their goal, the runners have overcome multiple obstacles, the most major being competing as a froshsoph team in a varsity-level race. While varsity members usually take three steps between hurdles to achieve a faster time, the frosh-soph members take five steps. This was a daunting fact for them, but they tried to concentrate on themselves and compete to the best of their abilities.
“We came in younger and with less experience and training, and we knew that would put us behind others,” Wong said. “However, we tried to stay focused on our race and on getting in the steps we needed.”
Hageman, Wong, Takai and Cherry hope to continue to improve and eventually break the varsity shuttle hurdles record again.
“In the future, I hope to be able to master more hurdling skills such as improving my form when I go over the hurdle and taking fewer steps between hurdles,” Takai said. “My goal
is to compete for shuttle hurdles again and hopefully break the varsity record.”
