IN SEASON 78, Ateneo Men’s Track and Field (AMTF) finished 6th in the overall podium for the University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP). It was a rough loss for the team, as they came quite close to podium finishes in a few of the events. The Ateneo Women’s Track and Field (AWTF) also struggled in the season 78, but just like the AMTF, the team’s members were able to keep their heads held high.
This season, Blue Eagles Head Coach and Program Director Mick Perez is once again at the helm of the track and field program. He expressed how he and his staff aim to raise the teams’ standard of performance. Coach Perez wants both teams to reach the caliber of the 2006-2009 era, where the Blue Eagles were consistently among the top three UAAP collegiate teams.
Going beyond the Ateneo grassroots program
Ateneo Track and Field has made strides to prove its champion-level status. With new coaches and a reconstructed program, these Eagles are ready to soar once again. Starting this year, a classification system will be more strictly implemented, meaning that both the men’s and women’s teams have programs singularly suited for each of the athletes’ events. With fixed specialization, the tracksters expect a level of improvement in competition quality.
In addition, there will no longer be any recruitment of rookies without specific prior experience. Because of this change, this season’s rookies hail from beyond the Blue and White. The blue tracksters have freshmen Javi Morfori and Nathan Rosal from De La Salle Zobel and La Salle Green Hills. Morfori is a former 800m record holder from the juniors division and Rosal will be adding a much-needed boost in the javelin and hammer events.
“They’re all very fresh so it’s important that they taste some competition,” says captain Gab Vera Cruz. According to him, they are relying on UAAP veteran and medalist Maui Ramos to support the team in the sprints. Co-Captain Mikee Ruiz and junior Rabbi Villanueva also compose a bulk of the team’s skill.
Villanueva, who will be stepping up this year in the 4x400m relay, maintained that the revamping of the program and the addition of new coaches has pushed the team to progress compared to last year.
Cruz is also confident in his team’s strength.
“We’re still a young team, [but] I think that’s where our strength is. We’re still developing,” he says, explaining that being young does not automatically equate to being inexperienced. Instead, the new program is a welcome breath of fresh air for the team.
Taking bigger steps
As for the Lady Eagles, after a stunning performance at the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association (PATAFA) 2016, they are eager to show exactly how high they can fly this Season 79. The team this year is also undergoing change with the new program and a new coach, Southeast Asian Games medalist Riezel Buenaventura.
Supersenior Captain and Queen Eagle Vanessa Baguiwet impressed everyone with her gold medal performance at the PATAFA 2016, where she also established her personal best. Also donning the Blue and White once again is Kimberly Zulueta, a battle-hardened runner. Her performance in last season’s 100m dash gave the Lady Eagles their only medal for the season. In July 2016, she was given a chance to represent the country in the 18th Association of Southeast Asian Nations University Games in Singapore and reached the finals in her events.
Building the agendas and strategies around the athletes seems to be the central theme of the revamped programs, a necessity to meet the heightened demands of competition. The Lady Eagles are no exception, however, and just like their male counterpart, AWTF is definitely up to the challenge this season. The season looks bright for Ateneo Track and Field. The Blue and Lady Eagles are hungrier than ever and are poised to impress.
“It’s all about speed and aggression,” says Cruz.
