If running around in a giant circle is cool then there must be something wrong with the universe. I mean something cosmically dysfunctional that could only be fixed by like Luke Skywalker or Aragorn. If it has not become apparent that I am being sarcastic and love everything about track, then I have some explaining to do.

I ran track last year under the tyrannical rule of Stephone Jordan and realized that though track is a great sport, it was just not the one for me. Enough with the past. This is the present, and the present looks good. Real good.

This year many newcomers in addition to the seasoned veterans have brought great depth to the already outstanding track team. One such newcomer is senior Christian Blanks, as seen on the varsity basketball squad, who has decided to give up baseball this season (which he has played in previous spring seasons) and turn out for the track team.

“I just didn’t feel like playing baseball, but I wanted to stay in shape for basketball so I decided to run track,” he said.

It’s pretty frustrating for me that someone with this carefree attitude would be able to run an 11.3 100-meter dash after only a few weeks of practice. For those of you that do not know track that well, running 11.3 is pretty much like 100 meters in 11.3 seconds. In fact that is exactly what it means. In any case, it was fast enough for Blanks to win that event. Throughout the rest of the meet he was able to also win the 200-meter dash, the 4 by 100-meter relay, and the 4 by 400-meter relay, contributing to the Garfield dominance in West Seattle on April 9.

That is all well and good, but now I must focus on the part of the team that everyone wants to hear about. The group of runners with limbs as thin as fingers and the height of…a really tall person. I am talking, of course, about long distance.

In the past long distance is where Garfield has come up short against the lanky eastside teams, but not this year. With six runners capable of running a mile in under five minutes (Holy Grail of long distance), Garfield is “stacked,” as they say.

Senior Dylan Peterson, the unofficial captain of the long-distance runners, recently ran a 4:38 mile, winning both the race and my heart. This is an incredible feat and puts him on a long, hard road leading to state. All too often, the sprinters are the ones that get all the glory, women, and Disney World tickets, but no one can forget those who dedicate their lives to running very, very long distances and win points for the team just as much as those that are too lazy to run more than a mile and settle for sprinting.

This is one thing that I noticed from my year on the team. Often times the long distance team would have nothing to do with the sprinters and the other way around. These “two separate teams” created much dissension and conflict of interest last year making it seem like we were not bonded in our common goal to decimate the enemies of Garfield track. This year, as I am assured, is different.

“The hometown spirit of being back at the real Garfield definitely promotes unity throughout the team,” states Peterson.

It is a very hard thing to do to unify a team of over 100 people, but according to Blanks, it can be done.

“At practice the two groups don’t talk that much but that’s just because they have different workouts, and at meets we all come together to cheer each other on.”

I guess a lot of my own frustration last year came from not being acknowledged by the really cool sprinters and maybe I was just a little boy to them, whisping away in the glory of Stephone Jordan.

Peterson also comments on the loss of Jordan, the superstar of last year.

“The team went from having a single superstar last year to being anyone’s team this year.”

This transition is a very healthy one because we all know how detrimental superstars could be to the well being of any team, and this year there is a more well rounded emphasis.

I am a little disappointed that my year of track could not have been more like this one for from all I have heard the team is not only looking really strong this year, but at the same time there is a deeper connection between all of the runners that was not present a year ago.

Team members, I am happy for you and all I can say is that it is a good year to run, throw or jump for Garfield track.