Passing the baton: Football and track helping each other

Manteca High football players Quinn Martinez (right) and Julian Moncada exchange the baton during a relay event for the Manteca High track and field team. Martinez and Moncada are among the most explosive players in the Buffaloes’ football program. (Gage Pfeifer)

By GARRISON REIS
The Tower

Football and track are sports that require speed, strength, and endurance and on the campus at Manteca High, they have a beneficial partnership.

Manteca High has a long history of pushing students to play multiple sports and participate in activities and head football coach Mark Varnum is no exception. He has pushed nearly 30 of his football players onto the track with coach Paul Lyons, including standouts Bryson Davis, a 1,000-yard running back as a junior in the fall, and young, speedy playmakers Julian Moncada and Quinn Martinez.

“There are few things better for improving speed and conditioning than running track,” Varnum said, “and I encourage any player that isn’t already a baseball player to get out there and work with our incredible track coach Lyons.”

Junior KP MacDannald, a running back, is using track to help build his speed and explosiveness for the fall. MacDannald is one of the top returning players for the defending Sac-Joaquin Section Division II champions. (Gage Pfeifer)

Participating in the track season provides those football athletes with the chance to improve upon their overall fitness, strength, and form.

By improving their running form, they can increase efficiency, reduce the likelihood of injury, and get faster for the following seasons.

“I always tell kids that for football, soccer (and) basketball, you’re learning plays, formations and defenses,” Lyons said. “But for track, my only goal is to make you a faster and more explosive athlete, which translates to all the other sports.”

Track provides those football players a place to keep working on their agility and speed during those off seasons.

Football also provides some benefits for track. Football shapes an athlete’s mentality and exposes them to a variety of challenges. Lyons knows when the season gets long and the competition gets tough, football players won’t buckle or break.

“As for football helping track, those kids being subjected to a sport like that really toughens them up for a lot of our harder events,” Lyons said.