2024-25

YISS Track & Field Girls’ Team was led this year by Seniors Lydia Ro, Ellie Fertig, Woobin Jeong, Maya Leishear, Claire An and Managers Damin Yoon and Helena Martinez.

The season began with shaking out the cobwebs to compete in a chilly HHS Preseason Meet, with many standout performances by the returners and new athletes. Junior Brena Nerooban opened her YISS T&F career by breaking the school record in the 200m. She would later go on to better this record throughout the season. Podiums were earned in the 100m (Brena), 200m (Brena), 400m (Kaiden), 4x100m (Rachel, Ina, Brena, Emma), 4x400m (Woobin, Irene, Olivia, Kaiden), High Jump (Maya), Long Jump (Maya), Triple Jump (Maya)

The second HHS meet on March 15 earned us 2nd place, and was highlighted by podiums and school records. The team earned podiums in the 100m (Brena- 3rd), 800m (Lydia- 2nd), 1600m (Lydia- 3rd), 3200 (Lydia- 1st), Shot Put (Grace Kim- 2nd), High Jump (Caroline- 3rd), Long Jump (Caroline- 1st), Triple Jump (Caroline- 3rd), and 4x400m (Woobin, Lydia, Kaiden, Olivia Lee). School Records were broken in the 4x100m (55.09- Rachel, Emma, Elaine, Brena) and the SMR 800 (2:05.54- Rachel, Emma, Brena, Kaiden).

March 22nd the athletes had an optional Spring Break meet. Lydia Ro, Maya Leishear, and Grace Kim posted some excellent results despite a 3 hour wait in the gym due to poor Air Quality. Combined, these 3 girls scored 45 points to represent Team YISS. Maya got podiums in the Triple Jump and Long Jump, and a 4th place in the High Jump. Grace earned 3rd in the High Jump and 4th in the Discus. Lydia earned 2nd in the 800m. The team concluded the day with a delicious meal at Texas Roadhouse.

Next, the team flew to Taichung, Taiwan for the ACSC Meet. After a fun cultural activity of viewing Taiwan baseball on Thursday, they spent Friday morning volunteering with Taiwan Sunshine and running a Track & Field day for special needs kids.

The competition began on Friday afternoon with Caroline Richardson breaking the school record in the Triple Jump (9.71m) and earning a bronze medal. Emma Tomlinson broke the school record in the 400m Hurdles (1:19.79) and earned a bronze medal. Brena Nerooban became ACSC champion, ACSC record holder, and school record holder with her time of 27.76 in the 200m. Lydia Ro earned a silver medal, and Kaiden Holst earned a bronze medal in the 800m. The first day finished with the SMR 1600m Relay team (Woobin, Emma, Kaiden, Lydia) winning first place in an ACSC record and school record time of 4:45.30.

Saturday’s competition saw more Guardian success. Lydia Ro earned silver medals in the 1500m, 3000m, 5000m. Brena Nerooban won the 100m with an ACSC and school record time of 13.30 in the preliminaries and Emma Tomlinson earned bronze. In the 400m, Brena stormed to victory with another ACSC and school record breaking performance (1:03.89) with Kaiden Holst edging out the Dalat runner and earning bronze. There were more strong finishes in the 100m Hurdles, with Rachel Kim earning silver and Emma Tomlinson earning bronze. The Guardians also had outstanding performances in the relays, breaking the ACSC and school records. The 4x100m team (Rachel, Elaine, Emma, Brena) had smooth handoffs and sped to victory with a time of 54.86. In the thrilling conclusion to the meet, the 4x400m team (Lydia, Olivia S, Kaiden, Brena) edged out Dalat to seal the victory. The Girls Guardians became repeat ACSC Champions with a final score of 183 points.

Despite some rainy weather and some girls being out due to illness, the tune up meet on Saturday, April 19th was one more chance to earn some individual and team records. Brena Nerooban ran 51.78 to break the school record in the 300m Hurdles. Other podiums came in the 100m Hurdles (Emma- 2nd), Triple Jump (Caroline- 2nd), Discus (Grace- 2nd), High Jump (Caroline- 3rd), Long Jump (Ina- 3rd), 4x100m ( Rachel, Emma, Ina, Brena- 3rd) and a thrilling 1st place finish in the 4x400m (Kaiden, Emma, Lydia, Brena).

At the KAIAC Championships Meet on April 26th the Girls Team had some great performances to end the season with a 2nd place team points finish of 152 points. This is the highest number of points that YISS has ever scored at the KAIAC Championships Meet.  Brena Nerooban had a day full of podiums, earning bronze in the 100m, silver in the 200m, silver in the 300m Hurdles, and gold in the 400m. Kaiden Holst earned bronze in the 400m, Lydia Ro earned silver in the 3200m, and broke her own school record with a time of 5:37.83 to earn silver in the 1600m. The 4x800m team (Olivia L, Maxine, Woobin, Olivia S) and the 4x400m team (Olivia S, Emma, Kaiden, Lydia) earned bronze. The SMR 800 team (Rachel, Elaine, Emma, Kaiden) beat Chadwick in a final sprint to earn 2nd place. In the field events, Caroline Richardson earned bronze in the High Jump (1.44m) and silver in the Triple Jump. Grace Kim had an amazing Discus competition, and threw a school record 24.02m to become KAIAC Champion for the first time in YISS history.