After a long season of working hard, breaking records, and winning conferences, OP varsity track had qualified for six events at Nike Nationals, held at Hayward Field in Eugine Oregan. The team would be competing in both the emerging elite and Championship SMR (200m, 200m, 400m, 800m), the emerging elite 4x200m, the emerging elite 4x100m, the championship 4x800m, and the emerging elite 4x400m.
Shortly after competing in the state championships, nine of our top runners along with Coach Seabode and Sartori made their trip out west to compete.
On Thursday, June 13, the boys had their first wave of races, the emerging Elite and Championship SMRs in the morning and the emerging elite 4×200 in the afternoon. The emerging elite team consisted of Brody Sheehan (200m), Seamus Vail (200m), Declan Kelley (400m), and Connor Bassoolino (800m); the Championship SMR was made of Aidan O’Dowd (200m), Charlie Spiegle (200m), James Nolan (400m), and Tommy Hunt (800m). Both of these teams did exceptionally well despite numerous obstacles, including sickness and ongoing injuries, the first running a 3:45-49, putting them in 8th, and the second a 3:53.10. Later that day, the Emerging Elite 4×200, consisting of Brody Sheehan, Charlie Spiegle, Zade Nassoura, and Aidan O’Dowd, also finished 8th, running a 1:33.99, just 0.04 seconds from the school record. After finishing their races, the boys took a trip to the Prefontaine memorial, a short drive from the stadium.
Friday, June 14 came around, and with it some of the Ram’s biggest races, the 4x100m and the 4x800m. The 4x100m team, Brody Sheehan, Zade Nassoura, Charlie Spiegle, and Seamus Vail, would be competing in a preliminary race to qualify for the finals the next day. Not only did they qualify with a sixth-place finish, but they shattered their previous school record of 44.79 by over half a second, finishing in only 44.20. Later that day was the Championship 4x800m race, consisting of Declan Kelley, Connor Bassolino, Jame Nolan, and Tommy Hunt. This team once again ran into issues with sickness still lingering, they regardless finished 21st overall with an 8:05.14. Though the team was done for the day, there were still two more races, arguably the most anticipated of the trip, the coaches’ races. Both Coach Seabode and Coach Sartori would be competing in the mile race against other coaches from around the country, and both had incredible performances. Coach Seabode finished in 5:03.99, and Coach Sartori in 8:20.63. The night ended with some celebratory laps from the team with their coaches and they were ready to finish out their season.
Saturday came around and there were two final races, the 4x100m emerging elite finals and the emerging elite 4x400m. Both were faced with wind and heat that greatly impacted all races but still closed their season with 44.94s and 3:30.33 respectively. The long and very successful season had come to an end with an amazing national run, full of personal and school records. The team was glad to head home to enjoy their summer, proud of their accomplishments, but hungry for more this upcoming season.
