Pumas continue to stay active despite sports cancellations
By Owen Pugh, sports editor
Sports will not be taking place for the rest of this school year at Maria Carrillo High School. The California Interscholastic Federation officially announced the cancellation of its spring sports on April 3, two days after Governor Gavin Newsom announced that all schools were ordered to close for the remainder of the academic year.
Even though spring sports are cancelled, many Pumas have still remained active during quarantine in preparation for next year, or just to stay sane.
Sophomore Jacob Donohue has kept running regularly through the quarantine in hope of a big cross country season in the fall, despite this year’s cancelled track season.
“The best athletes are the ones who overcome adversity and keep pushing to complete their goals,” he said.
In addition to keeping up his running he has done his best to keep his teammates motivated for the future and has helped organize nightly Zoom calls where various returning cross country athletes can do core workouts together.
For student athletes who have signed on to further their athletic careers in college, losing out on this season is disappointing, but many see it as just a bump in the road and have kept positive outlooks for the future.
Colton Swinth is one of the few seniors fortunate enough to be continuing his athletic career in college, as he signed to Cal Poly back in November, allowing him to be confident about the future and make the best of the situation at hand.
“With the extra time on my hands I can work on things with running that I don’t usually have time for,” he said. Although he might not get to compete again until fall, Swinth has been in contact with his soon-to-be coach and has continued to train, just not in the way he thought he would be.
“I have been running from my house most days, alone of course,” he said.
Swinth is not alone in the sense that many other Puma student athletes have kept training through tough times; however, many other athletes do not have it as simple as Swinth in how they can continue to practice their sport.
Swimmers have felt the pain of not being able to practice their sport during quarantine because public pools have been closed for weeks.“I haven’t been able to swim so I have taken on running and at-home workouts to stay in shape, but it just isn’t the same,” said senior Gabby Gatham.
However she misses her teammates just as much as she misses the pool.
“There’s so much more to a team than a race,” she said, “but I was lucky enough to have three seasons with an amazing team.”
Senior Jordan Triebel was not that lucky. Triebel came out for track and field for the first time this spring and was unable to attend the first meet of the year, which left her without ever being able to compete.
“I was super hesitant of doing track; then the moment I did it and fell in love with it, it was taken from me,” Triebel said.
With her track career not going as planned, she hopes others won’t hesitate to put themselves out there and join teams like she was.
“If you have an urge to do a school sport and get involved, do it while you can,” she advises.
Zavier Rodrigues is another senior whose season being cancelled is more unfortunate than most.
“I was looking forward to competing at state and hopefully achieving the top spot on the high jump record board,” he said.
After climbing his way up the record board to number two all time in both the high jump and the 110m hurdles last year, Rodrigues was hoping to take down the school records in high jump and the 110m high hurdles this spring. Not only will Rodrigues not get his chance to claim a spot atop the record board, he is unsure of whether his last competition is already behind him as he has not yet decided if he will continue on in track and field in college as he prioritizes his grades over his athletic performance.
Although many athletes are not getting the season they hoped for, the lifestyle that participating in sports has brought them has provided many student-athletes with the get away that they need.