Skip to main content

Treagles on Two

By

By Josiah Blacklock

“Treagles on Two. One, two, TREAGLES!”

Our battle cry echoed across the flat land of the track stadium, causing all the other teams to immediately snap their heads in our direction. We had come to Taiwan ready, with the training already done and our hopes high, and we were going to leave with what we had come for: Dalat’s first ACSC Track and Field win.  

Track and Field is the most popular Varsity sport at Dalat, with over 50 people trying out this year. Part of what makes Track different is the team dynamic. In other Varsity sports like soccer or basketball, everybody is on one team and although they might have different positions, all compete in the same game. 

Track and Field, however, lets you specialize in what you’re good at. If you’ve been going to the gym or doing CrossFit after school often, you could try throwing. If you participated in other Varsity sports and feel that your cardio is your strong suit, you could try distance running. All the people on the Track and Field team have a specialty, and they all train for it in different ways. 

Track and Field also has a very strong-knit community. It is one of the only sports that does some version of it year-round, offering Cross Country in seasons one and two. Consequently, the team bonds year-round and some people devote hours upon hours to perfecting their distance or throw.

I’ve been on Dalat Track and Field for three years now, but everyone knew this year was different. Despite the loss of a few strong athletes last year, we still had an incredibly talented team. All that was left was to put in the work. According to Coach Brooks, “We knew this team had tremendous potential. There was no doubt this was the best track team we’d ever taken to ACSC.” 

When the time to leave for ACSC finally arrived, the tensions were high, but everyone had trained for this, and we were ready. Track and Field ACSC is a two-day event, with the first day including a service project. As the afternoon of the second day rolled around, we realized that we had a chance. Track and Field’s overall trophy is based on the number of points from both the men’s and the women’s team, and although we were 2nd in both categories, our combined total was way above anybody else’s. 

Sure enough, when the awards ceremony commenced that Saturday night, Dalat was announced as the overall winner. We cheered and rushed onto the podium, remembering the tough training and knowing that it paid off. But looking back, the thing that most of the athletes remember the most is not the winning, but the friends and the bonding. 

Anna Kilgo (12) commented, “Yes, it took a lot of my time and energy away, but I got to enjoy running and everything else with my teammates.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DINGBAT DALAT STUDENT SPENDS PRECIOUS TIME CONJURING UP SELF-REFERENTIAL SENIOR SCRIBBLE RATHER THAN GATHERING LEGITIMATE WORK

By Anonymous
Yusoof Monawvil PENANG, MA - As the deadline drew near and the stars aligned in the night sky above the majestic waters of the Strait of Malacca, one particular Dalat student—Yusoof Monawvil (12), despite a plethora of school events to select and report on—opted instead to spend a remarkably well-wasted 24 minutes staring at a blank Google Docs page, fruitlessly drawing up and shooting down brainstormed ideas.  In a moment of sheer and undeniable epiphany, Monawvil deemed it only fitting to self-referentially satirize his own ingrained incompetence and dingbattery. Commenting on the flash of insight, Monawvil quoted himself, saying: “It all just kinda made sense. I went on DISCourse to look at the little rubric thing Ms. Grad and Mr. Hieber posted, and I checked if I was following all of the guidelines... And I technically am/was; [N]ot like there’s any specific direktive [sic] prohibiting self-quoting.”  In a turn of events, Monawvil did come to find his self-quoting en...
6 comments
Read more

"Spikeball, Swimming, and Sickness: The Remnants of Senior Sneak" by Ee Rynn Ong

By
“Guys, I think we’re here,” said Jonathan Ooi (12) as he peeked out of the lorry to catch the first glimpse of our Senior Sneak location. This year’s Senior Sneak was held in Nomad Adventure, Gopeng, and the organizers planned many activities for the Class of 2026, ranging from traditional games like congkak and batu seremban to adrenaline-pumping ropes courses and whitewater rafting. These scheduled activities proved to be some of the best highlights of the trip, but top of that, the seniors were also given some daily free time to chat, explore, and relax. Josh Stevens (12) had come prepared for this with two spikeball nets, which immediately attracted attention from people eager to spend time in the outdoor sun. The next five days saw spikeball veterans and newcomers alike, spending their precious one and a half hours daily around the unassuming circular net, smashing the yellow ball in hopes of a victory.  Caleb Evans (12) was one of the newbies to spikeball, learning how the g...
Post a Comment
Read more

“I Miss Her” by Nikhil Pillay

By
While most people had a fun week for mid-semester break, whether it was spent with family, or with friends on impact trips, no one had a more emotionally confusing week than Judson Kenneth Robert Nosker (12).  In the light of recent events, Judson, despite all odds, had gotten in a relationship with one of his classmates, and as the break started, he had started to spend a lot of time with her. While with her, he started to experience a new level of joy and completeness that he had never felt before. In the words of Judson Nosker, “The first half of the break was good, but the rest of it was horrible.”  The reason for such a quote and the roller coaster of emotion was because half way through the break, disaster had struck. Judson’s girlfriend had gone on a trip with her family to Thailand, leaving Judson all alone. For the rest of the week, Judson was in a state of longing for her presence.  His friends have reported numerous occasions when Judson would be sitting with t...
Post a Comment
Read more