ACSC Track

Lauren Lee

This week, the high school track team made their way to Morrison Academy, Taiwan for the final meet of the season, the ACSC conference. A hectic travel schedule from March 22nd to March 25th, the week moved very fast, but not at any disadvantage: full of contentment, competition, and of course, bubble tea, this trip had many highlights to be cherished forever.

We left early Thursday morning and arrived late Thursday night, met with a two-hour long karaoke-filled bus ride (rather unfortunately for the coaches and the bus driver, the bus came with a microphone connected to twelve speakers throughout the moving vehicle). We arrived after campus was closed—almost midnight—and we settled into our beds (our boys had quaint air mattresses in the middle of the weight room while us girls had the old refurbished dorms) and got some rest for the next two day’s events.

The first day was filled with sun as we worked with a school for children with disabilities to organize a track meet for them. Afterward, we began participating in our own meet, winning multiple medals for the relay races and hurdles; the girls’ sprint medley relay (Lauren Lee (12), Annabelle Teoh (12), Dorothy Koay (10), and Ruthie Allen (10)) even won gold! Later, our coaches took us to the restaurant chain that claimed to have invented bubble tea, and we sat in random groups getting to know each other and praying for the next day’s races.

On the second day, we continued to perform well, winning many individual gold medals: Alicia Chin (12) in the long jump, Jared Douglas (10) in the 5000m, Jack Cura (8) in the 3000m, Ruthie Allen (10) in the 800m and 1500m, and Esther Kim (12) in all the field events. Overall, it was a successful meet, with girls winning 2^nd place overall and boys receiving 5^th.

To us, however, this ACSC wasn’t about how we placed. This trip meant a lot to all of us as it was Miss Grad’s last year as our coach, and it was our last ACSC as seniors. “It was heartbreaking that the new people we met, we won’t have a chance to see again next year,” said Alicia Chin (12) as we were preparing to leave.

Ashley Chew (9) also said it was really nice getting to know upperclassmen, since track is one of those teams where you need more people to get more points, and you get to meet people from all over high school with no tryouts or discrimination.

Overall, it was an amazing four days, even if they were cold and rushed. We made lots of memories and drank way too much bubble tea, and boarding passes are just waiting to be scrapbooked. Taiwan will always be held dear to me because of these yearly trips, and even though it was the last trip for a lot of us, we did really well, and the memories we made couldn’t be replicated anywhere else.