With the regular season over, track and field varsity athletes shifted their focus to postseason meets such as SCVAL qualifiers on May 4 and CCS Semifinals on May 11.
Head coach Michael Davidson said the process for advancing in postseason meets is lengthy and challenging
“We have (De Anza) division trials and finals,” Davidson said. “Those finalists qualify into the SCVAL championships, and the top folks at that championship qualify to Central Coast Championships, and then from there they qualify for states.”
Davidson said he’s proud of the team’s improvement throughout the season as well as results at the league qualifiers.
“We had quite a few athletes who competed, and a large majority of them had PRs,” Davidson said. “So while they may not have all qualified for the championship, they did have seasonal PRs, so I was really happy with regards to that. The most important thing to me is that they’re seeing progress from the beginning of the season.”
Stefan Sochacki, a junior and mid-distance runner, said the team performed well at CCS Semifinals despite difficult conditions.
“There (were) a lot of great performances throughout our team, “ Sochacki said. “Many qualified for CCS which (is) extremely tough for us because SCVAL is undeniably the most competitive league. Saturday was really rough because the conditions were brutal with enough rain and wind to move some of the races to another day.”
Reflecting on the year, Davidson said the team also made improvements despite a smaller roster.
“You can’t really recruit in track. Track is not a sport that the kids choose. It’s a sport that chooses you,” Davidson said. “We didn’t have as many members this year as before, but now the kids are catching on and doing the work and seeing the progress they’ve made.”
Sochacki said he saw a lot of growth on the team.
“This year went pretty well for myself as well as for many of my teammates,” Sochacki said. “I had grown a lot from last year when I used to be a random guy on JV to one of the top guys on varsity, and it’s thrilling to improve so much over the entire year. Running is one of those sports where so much can change if you train hard enough, and you can go from nothing to something in a short amount of time if you really put your mind to it.”
Though there are varsity members still focusing on upcoming meets, Davidson said the rest of the team is already planning for next season.
“We’re going to have training over the summer for those who want to compete in cross country in the fall, but we’ll also have fall training for those who want to keep up with track and field and get ready for next year,” Davidson said.
Sochacki said he looks forward to training and being a leader in his senior year.
“I look forward to being able to be a leader next year and hopefully a role model for people who decided to try running for the first time,” Sochacki said. “I remember when I first started running my freshmen year. Seeing all the seniors giving it their all every single day really inspired me to do the same thing. I hope I can give that same experience for others and make someone else fall in love with the sport.”
