Monta Vista hosted the third annual RustBuster Invitational on Saturday, March 2. This edition of the RustBuster saw 13 teams open their seasons a rocking first meet of the year!
As the first events started, rain was drenching the track. It was hard to be optimistic and excited about the day–being able to complete the meet seemed to be a questionable proposition. However, athletes jumped right into their events and everyone started competing. Soon, the rain stopped and the track started to dry. While we were drenched periodically throughout the day, athletes stayed positive and competed hard and we had some pretty solid times for a season opening meet. These results are a tribute to the positive attitude that the athletes brought with them to the RustBuster!
The first guns of the year were for the hurdles, and even in the rain Monta Vista got off to a good start with Conner Hsu, Zoe Wang and Sotirios Kougiouris all bringing back our first medals. After the 4x800m relays were run on a still soaking wet track, with both of our girls teams bringing back third place finishes, the track seemed to dry out and the day got better and better from there.
Some highlights (this is not a complete list for sure! I’m trying to write this at 4am 🙂 ) included:
- The boys varsity 3200m, where a new meet record and the top two times in CCS this young season helped our own Rohun Agrawal to a medal and a 30 second PR.
- The varsity girl’s 400 featured four of the best ten times in CCS this season, with Monta Vista’s own Bianca Young nailing down fourth place.
- Andrew Cole’s dramatic run in the FSB 3200m, moving up smartly from the pack to take a solid fourth place.
- Zoe Wang successfully defending her FSG 100m hurdle win from last season.
- In a matchup of finalists from last year’s CCS 100m finals, Jessica Eagle of M-A took first with a new meet record with MV’s Evelyn How and Brooke Young looking right at her in 3rd and 4th.
- Jessica Ji heading straight from hoops to a 5′ high jump and a matching silver medal in the triple jump.
- Monta Vista’s proud boys’ and girls’ varsity 4×4 teams both got locked in exciting season opening battles, with second place finishes that set the table for strong seasons–good results but a reminder that we have work to do!
Some PRs include Sai Koppuru, Akshay Gopalkrishnan, and Alex Richardson(400), Eric Zheng, Henry Hodgkins and Martin Xiao (shot put), Vibha Iyengar, Sanmitra Bannerjee and Nicholas Hsieh (discus), Jessica Sacor (100m), Sylvana Northrop (800m), Rachel Jiang (1600m), Conner Hsu (300m hurdles) and Rohun in the 3200m. It’s hard to set a PR in a season opener on a wet day, you should be proud!
The RustBuster saw meet records fall in the varsity boys’ 400m, 800m, 3200m, shot, long jump, high jump, and varsity girls’ high hurdles, 100m, 400m, 800m, 1600m, 3200m, long jump, high jump and discus. CCS season bests were set in the girls’ 4×400 and the boys 100m, 3200m, and discus. Pretty good for an opening meet!
A special shout-out to our timer, Hank Lawson, and our two USATF starters, Jim Springer and J.R. Heberle. With all the weather, we were only 15 minutes behind schedule when we finished our meet just after 3pm. That is amazing for a first meet of the season, many athletes in their first high school meet ever, and bad weather to boot. Not every meet has this caliber of support (or two USATF certified starters!). Hank is truly one of the people who can make a meet work well.
Thanks to all the athletes who competed so hard with sportsmanship and honor, all the parents who volunteered or just came to cheer, and the coaches from all the teams who volunteered time to make the Rustbuster go so well. Parents–you are so important in so many ways, I can’t thank you enough for all you do. A special thank you to team parent Ceci Imamura for organizing all the volunteers, and more. Words are not enough.
Complete results have been posted. Thanks to the wonderful Monta Vista team photographer, Robert Ma, we have many fine photos available for download.
Next up Monta Vista hosts Wilcox and Homestead on Thursday, March 7 at 3pm. Please come and help out or just cheer your favorite team!
I’m so proud of the Monta Vista community–athletes, coaches, parents, and teachers–for putting on a fine event. Athletes, you are great hosts to our guests. You had a great attitude in the face of adversity. I think that all our visitors had a great time. The RustBuster has become a great start to a track season, and especially for a new freshman the RustBuster can be a super introduction to how fun high school track can be. Thank you, thank you to everyone who helped make RustBuster. You are all a very special part of what makes our track community great and meaningful to be a part of.
