The track and field team competed in the CIF-SS prelims on Saturday, June 5 at Estancia High School. Those who had qualified in the Mission League event on May 28th were eligible to compete, and twenty of the squad’s members succeeded on Saturday to move onto CIF-SS Finals on Saturday, June 12 at Estancia High School. 

Stephen Purdum ’22 and Jessica Thompson ’23 are two of the five pole vault qualifiers for the upcoming event, and agreed that being able to compete at such a large event is an exciting opportunity.

“It was really exciting to be back in a real competitive environment and to have what finally got to feel like a real track and field meet,” Purdum said. “For most of the season both in terms of the volume of people and the general flow of the events things felt kind of stunted, but on Saturday it really felt like we got to be back in action which was just super refreshing and a very welcome change.”

Thompson said that she was worried about her performance in pole vault, long jump and triple jump. However, once the event began, she says her nerves melted away. 

“Initially I was extremely nervous going into CIF prelims, but that nervousness quickly turned to excitement the day of the meet,” Thompson said. “I competed in a total of three events, pole vault, long jump, and triple jump. In each jumping event nine competitors make it through to finals, so I wasn’t too worried about making it for pole vault since it’s my main event and was extremely happy when I qualified for finals in it.”

Thompson also hit a personal record of 33 feet, 5 inches in the triple jump event, securing her a place in the finals for that event as well.

“[It] was definitely a weight off my back since I’d been continuously working on getting better at that event,” Thompson said. “Overall I was so excited and grateful to have qualified for finals in two events, as well as proud of my teammates who also dominated in their events putting them through to CIF finals next Saturday.”