Eagle Era

This achievement, one in a season of numerous successes for AHS’s track team, showcased the team’s youth and increasing potential

Rohan Bhagra

Staff Writer

Well, records are interesting because it’s just a time,” said Aneek Mandal (11), a member of the relay team that set AHS’s new record for the 4000-meter distance medley relay (DMR). “You can even be a millisecond off and you will be behind.”

This team—one pulled together after a last-minute runner swap, one without any significant relay-specific practice before the race, and one, notably, composed of four members all below 12th grade—was the one responsible for a record-breaking time of 11 minutes, 12 seconds, and 18 milliseconds in the DMR at the Castro Valley Relays. Set on Saturday, March 29th, this school record beat one set in 2019 by 5 seconds.

And that record, remarkably, was set in part by two of the team’s current coaches, Julian and Javeir Alfonso (AHS Class of 2019).

All together, Mandal, who ran the opening 1200-meter leg of the relay; Evrin Wasser (10), who ran the 1600-meter final leg; Shaun Matthew (10), who took the penultimate leg, the 800 meter; and Aden Zhang (10), the runner for the 400-meter leg, achieved what had been their goal entering the race. “We looked at the record before and we thought it would be pretty achievable,” said Wasser, one of the team’s most impres- sive runners in years and the new owner of the school’s 3200-meter record.

According to Mandal, a key motivation for chasing the record was the individual successes of this group of four, coupled with the fact that last year’s team could not beat it. “After I got [a 4:42 mile], I was really motivated into putting a team together to actually get it,” Mandal said. “We got Evrin, who was down to do it because we were chasing a school record. We got Sean because he really wanted to earn an 800, and there’s an 800 in that event. Then we got Aden.”

In many ways, this result was not surprising. Each athlete came into this race with plenty of personal accolades and a level of experience that certainly is worth Members of AHS boys track team break school record for 4000m distance medley relay. This achievement, one in a season of numerous successes for AHS’s track team, Rohan Bhagra Staff Writer showcased the team’s youth and increasing potential more than their relative youth suggests. But it was still far from a given. The team did not specifically practice handoffs until race day, and Zhang was slotted as a replacement for another runner.

“Just by sharing a common goal and doing a few warm-ups together, we were able to click together and get the chemistry we needed to perform well on that race,” said Wasser while speaking on adapting to those circumstances.

“What really helped us is that when we warmed up, we were joking around a lot,” said Mandal. “And also the fact that Aden’s really funny, and Sean can get him pissed off a bit. The dynamic of the team was good.”

That camaraderie was something that shined through in the runners’ accounts of the race. Zhang’s performance propelled the team in the early leg. “With the starting of our second leg, he really took it out hard, and at that moment we kind of knew that we could probably be a lot faster than a lot of other teams,” Wasser said.

The team’s handoffs, perhaps the most crucial part of any relay race, also benefited from that playful attitude marked with serious amounts of trust. “We practiced handoffs that day for the first time, and always said to each other, just don’t drop it,” said Mandal. “I think there’s a pretty sizable trust because during the relays. Everyone was trying to do some more higher level handoffs, so you didn’t need to slow yourself down to catch it. You really have to trust that person to be able to reel it in and get it to you,” Wasser said.

While not winning overall—the team placed third—it still came home with the AHS record in the 4000-meter DMR, adding another accomplishment to what the team’s athletes are referring to as one of the team’s best seasons in years.

“I definitely can agree with that, because I’ve been coaching for 10 years now,” said Coach Zamora, the head coach for the AHS track team. “I feel like for our distance team, especially, there [are] five guys that are really excelling, three or four girls that are really excelling in their event which is exciting to see. What’s even better about it is that majority of them are underclassmen,” she said. “So it looks like a promising future for AHS.”

Returning to the relay team, she continued, “Do I think that this is a record that is going to stay on the books for a long time? No, mainly because they’re all so young. I have hopes that they will continually beat their own record.”

Mandal, Matthew, Zhang, and Wasser (pictured L-R) are several of the track team’s younger runners whose recent successes have previewed an exciting future (Photo Credit: Renee Zamora).