The Los Altos track team faced off against cross-town rival Mountain View High School for the first time this season today, April 18. The Los Altos track teams split the meet, with the boys varsity and junior varsity teams triumphing while the girls varsity and junior varsity teams lost in close contests.

Because of another meet tomorrow for each of the school’s top eight runners, both Los Altos and Mountain View rested their primary squad and chose to give other athletes a chance to perform.

“We didn’t run our fastest guys in every event,” senior John Beutter said. “It was basically our second team versus Mountain View’s second team in some races, but we still had fast guys out there.”

Los Altos particularly stood out in the long distance events, with junior Dane Tippet running a blazing fast 4:38 to take the mile. In addition to Dane’s win, Los Altos also took the two-mile and 400 meter races.

The short-distance runners and discus throwers contributed greatly to Los Altos’ success as well. Both the girls and boys 4×100 meter relays set personal records, with the girls running 51.17, the 16th best time in CCS and the boys running 43.95, moving them up to sixth in CCS. The varsity boys swept the 100 meter race as well, with senior Chris Tien leading the way with a 11.59 and seniors Willem Van Eck and Tyler Polen tying for second at 11.60.

As for discus, senior Alexandria Bahl and sophomore Sami Fakololo both took first place with distances of 87 feet and 9 inches and 133 feet and 8 inches, respectively. Alexandria and Sami managed to place highly in the shot put as well, with Alexandria placing second and Sami placing third.

The Eagles look ahead to their last league meet against Milpitas High School next Thursday and the De Anza League Finals the following week.