Vista’s varsity track and field dominate the competition.

The Vista del Lago’s varsity men’s track lineup has consistently remained dominant over the competition, winning the league championship for the last nine years. Why is this? Some coaches and the top runners of the varsity men’s division shed light on what makes our school so unstoppable.

Vista has a considerable numbers advantage over other schools, both in athletes and coaches. “We’ve had the luxury of having enough kids to cover all 16 events, while other schools don’t have that,” said Head Coach Mike Kozlowski.

Our superiority in numbers also gives us the edge in having more options for talented runners. “We’ve been fortunate to have a couple of standouts most years which changes the game significantly,” Kozlowski adds.

Long jump coach Rod Robertson stressed the importance of the team’s rigorous training routine. “We ask a lot more of our runners than most others do,” said Robertson. “In order to win the league championship, we need runners that are able to run the more difficult events like the 4 x 400-meter relay and the 800-meter sprint.”

Vista’s varsity runners know how challenging Roberson’s workouts can be and how they make the runners work hard. “We have to focus on the little things because that adds up to the big, important skills and habits,” said senior Brandon Spencer.

To succeed in varsity, the coaches stress the importance of potential runners being flexible and coachable. “It’s nice when people are open to trying new things…variety is the spice of life, as they say,” said Kozlowski.

“The athlete that’s the super athlete that isn’t coachable is not a good teammate. I would take an athlete that listens and is coachable over a great athlete every time,” said Robertson.

“If you just trust the process and don’t give up, everything will be good,” said senior runner Matt Long.

Our athletes accentuate the value of building camaraderie among teammates. “Create strong bonds. Iron sharpens iron, meaning you will push each other to become better in the fellowships with your teammates.” said senior Brandon Spencer.

“When you’re at a track meet for up to eight hours and doing the difficult workouts, it’s always nice to have people going through it with you. Relationships also make you motivated to work harder, which at times can translate to your performance,” Long said. “It gives you someone to bond with as you do your workout because they usually suck, and having friends makes it a lot easier and more fun,” said sophomore varsity runner Collin Lund.

Coach Kozlowski generally agrees with this: “If you’ve got a crowd of friends cheering for you and encouraging you, you can definitely get a boost out of that. That’s true for all sports.”