Magnolia and Sierra View elementary schools each recently held their own Track and Field Days to wrap up the school year with some fun and healthy competition.
Teachers Roberto Cazares at Magnolia and Judy Alvey at Sierra View were the chairpersons for their respective school’s track events, each putting in many hours pulling it all together.
Cazares noted that there used to be a school district sponsored Track and Field Day held at the high school where all the elementary schools competed, but it is no longer held. Now, Sierra View and Magnolia each hold their own events.
The track events included the 50M, 100M, 200M, 400M, 800M, and Mile. The field events included the Softball Throw and Standing Long Jump. Medals were awarded to the top three in each event.
“It’s good healthy competition and the kids love it,” Cazares said. “It boosts their morale.”
Magnolia’s competition was held May 20 on the school playground while Sierra View held its event earlier, on May 13, at the Oakdale Junior High School track.
“Most of the fifth and sixth grade classes run a mile or more throughout the school year each morning and keep track of their times,” Alvey said. “Training for the track events is a year-long process. The students begin training for the field events for only a few weeks.”
“They do morning fitness in fifth and sixth,” Cazares reported regarding how the Magnolia students prepared. “This is a culminating activity for all the kids. It’s fun.”
Alvey said that the students each got to choose two events in which to compete. At Sierra View, the two fastest students from each class for the mile are the only ones who compete in the Mile event.
“It gets pretty competitive all year during the training, knowing that only a select few will complete in that event,” she added.
When all the events were finished, the Sierra View students lunched at Cottleswoods Park, followed by a medal ceremony.
Numerous parent volunteers and school staffers played a role at each event, helping with set up, times, placing, and more.
