On Saturday, December 17th the WCHS track team ran a meet at PG Sportsplex. The meet had many highly competitive events, but the main attraction of the day was the distance medley relay (DMR) which both the girls and boys team ran the event. However, the boys WCHS team took first place.

The race was opened by senior Nathan Encinas in the 1200m, continued by junior Andrew Ashton in the 400m, followed by junior Griffin White in the 800m and Stepan Volkov finished with the 1600m.

“I really enjoy getting to run relays because it feels like more of a team aspect,” White said. “This relay in particular is different from most races because usually every runner races the same distance. This event allows more variety and lets me work with sprinters which I don’t get to do often.”

The event was run by distance runners Encinas, White, and Volkov, and sprinter Ashton. This is the only track event that combines distance runners and sprinters, so it is a unique event in itself.

The race consisted of a 1200m (0.75 miles or six laps on an indoor track), a 400m (0.25 miles or two laps), a 800m (0.50 miles or four laps), and finally a 1600m (one mile or eight laps).

“It was really great to finish off the relay and win first,” Volkov said. “We had managed to pull ahead into first by the end of the first relay so I just had to hold it strong until the end. It was a great race and I managed to hold strong and finish in first.”

The final race time was 11 minutes and 10 seconds with a second place team running 11 minutes and 12 seconds. Volkov barely managed to hold the win.

The meet did not start off on the right foot as early on the fire alarm got pulled and everyone had to evacuate. Luckily, the track was unharmed and everyone was able to re-enter. However, this delayed events by about an hour.

“Overall, it was a really fun meet,” White said. “I love when running gets to feel like a team sport, and this DMR has by far been my favorite event to run.”