For Canyon High School track and field coach George Velarde, winning the Foothill League title is the standard for his Cowboys. And after the boys’ and girls’ teams each won the title for the fourth season in a row, the goal is to build upon the momentum as the Cowboys look to win big in the league’s prelims and finals.
“We’re very excited for our teams on the boys’ and girls’ sides winning the fourth league in a row,” Velarde said in an interview with The Signal. “We’re in a good place. The athletes have tremendous work ethic, and the coaches are very dedicated.”
With the Cowboys winning the Foothill League, the boys’ team recorded its 27th league title in program history while the girls’ team claimed its 16th.
This year, the Foothill League titles were determined by head-to-head results in dual meets and tri-meets.
Last season, the Foothill League had a one-day meet to determine the league champions.
According to Velarde, the coaches around the Foothill League had discussions regarding the structure and reverted to the previous format for this season.
“We’re very deep. We have some very tough teams in our league and every meet that we had, we had to make sure we brought our A-game,” Velarde said in response to the team’s league season. “There’s no shortcuts and every team is quality. That’s the mentality that we had going into very single meet.”
In the first meet of the season against Saugus and Valencia, the Cowboys defeated the Centurions, 83.50-51.50, and defeated the Vikings, 96-29 on the boys’ side. And in the boys’ dual meet against West Ranch, the Cowboys claimed the win over the Wildcats, 85-46.
On the girls’ side, the Cowboys recorded a win over the Centurions and Vikings with a win over the Wildcats in the dual meet. And in a dual meet against Castaic High School, the Cowboys boys’ and girls’ teams claimed wins over the Coyotes.
With the league titles wrapped up, the Cowboys had runners featured in the Arcadia Invitational, one of the premier high school track and field meets in the country.
Canyon’s Caleb Williams, Keyshawn Wooten, Jermaree Whitener, Parker Brown and Benecio Wright finished first in the boys’ 4×100 in a school record time of 41.26. And on the girls’ side, freshman Khloe McCoy won her 400m heat race with a time of 55.79 and finished in eighth in the 400m open race.
Velarde is looking to keep up the recent pace in the Cowboys’ next competition at 66th Mt. San Antonio College relays meet from Thursday to Saturday.
“We’re at the point with several of our athletes that we’re just trying to sharpen where we are at,” he said. “We’re just trying to improve every day, little by little, week by week.”
