Holt Field, home of the Tigers and our amazing eight-million dollar Track and Field facility. Photo courtesy of sophomore Trey Walter.
At San Luis Obispo High School, track and field is a popular sport where everyone has their own records for their events. The average track athlete’s personal records are becoming increasingly outran, jumped, and thrown by freak athletes from Texas, Georgia, and Florida. With all of these high school athletes running so fast it begs a question: is SLOHS slow?
“Athletes are getting better because, you know, better research leads to better training and better weight lifting, which makes for better athletes,” said Track and Field sprinter and thrower senior Abel Ritter.
Teenagers are running so fast they are beginning to qualify for the Olympics, with sixteen-year-old high school junior Quincy Wilson recently competing in the American 4×400 meter dash team at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
High school track athletes across the country are constantly raising the bar for what is possible for a teenager to achieve. However, the average track athlete is just there to have some fun and improve themselves, not to compare with others.
“I do feel like our track athletes are becoming more athletic. Coach Steele has us on a very strict workout schedule and he has the sprinters always running, I never see those guys stop. The throwers…they’re some pretty athletic people, always lifting them weights,” said sophomore and thrower Silo Villani.
On March 7 at the 2025 Texas A&M Bluebonnet Invitational, not only did the senior Brayden Williams from Duncanville High School run a 9.99 second 100m dash, but in that same race the freshman Dillon Mitchell from C.E. King High School ran a 10.29 second 100 meter dash. What makes this even crazier is that the week after that Mitchell ran a 10.07 second 100 meter dash. That’s only 0.49 seconds off of Usain Bolt’s 100 meter dash world record as a freshman!
“Track athletes have definitely gotten faster. Track inflation is real,” said sophomore sprinter and jumper Jackson Sullivan.
The fastest time that SLOHS High has had since 2015 for the men’s 100-meter dash was broken last year by transfer student from Mission Prep Wyatt Maulhardt. Not only did he break that record, but he broke the men’s 200-meter dash record for SLOHS which was also last set in 2015.
Despite previous records, SLOHS is still a competitive team in league, but compared to the rest of the country, SLOHS athletes just can’t compete. Support Tiger Track and Field athletes at the next home meet on April 2.
Don’t let this get to your head, Tigers, there’s always room for improvement, and when in doubt, just run faster!
Sources: athletic.net, olympics.com
