By Alex Edel and Meagan Wang

The girls’ track team placed second overall at Div. III CIF, losing to Oak Park by only three points, the best that any track team has finished since moving to Division III in 1993. Amy Weissenbach ’12, Matthew Bedford ’10 and the girls’ 4×400 relay will advance to Masters.

The girls’and boys’ track teams have finished their regular season with 6-0 and 4-3 overall records respectively. Competing in Division III, girls’ track was ranked first for medium sized schools nationally in the Nike Team Nationals.

After many different pace changes in the event, both Weissenbach and Cami Chapus ’12 were able to finish the event second and sixth respectively. Weissenbach finished with her best time ever, qualifying for masters. She continued on to also win and qualify for masters in the 800 meters.

Lauren Hansson ’11 competed in the individual 200 meters, finishing third and setting a new school record with a time of 56.34 seconds.

“We have run a tremendous program for years with multiple league titles and top 10 CIF finishes,” Head track coach Jonas Koolsbergen said.

Last year, the girls’ track team won the Mission League Championship and finished fourth at the CIF finals. This year, the competition was harder because a group of Division II schools dropped to Division III.

The girls that competed in the CIF were Hansson, Weissenbach, Chapus, Zaakirah Daniels ’10, Jenny Porter ’10, Hilary King ’10, Sydney Haydel ’11, Nicole Nesbit ’10 and Kei Goldberg ’12.

Four boys also competed in the 4×200 relay but did not make it to the CIF finals meet, and Bedford also competed in the individual 200 and 400 meter races.

Early in the season, Bedford broke not only school records but also set the lead state marker in the 200 and 400 meter races. At CIF finals, Bedford raced head to head against Irvine Woodbridge’s Jalen Craver in the 400 meters. Although Bedford did finish second, he set a new school record with a time of 47.92 seconds, placing him fourth going into the Masters meet.

He also finished third in the 200 meters with a time of 21.65 seconds. The meet concluded with the 4x=400 meter girls’ relay. Hansson ran first, getting a quick head start, and was followed by Porter, Daniels and Weissenbach. They finished in first place and are now the second team in school history to make Masters.

Koolsbergen called the girls’ team this year “our best, most balanced, well rounded team in school history.”