Rows of tents and tables stand orderly near the path, and beneath the shade, a plethora of snacks, sports drinks and refreshments wait for the athletes to round the corner. Vibrant melanges of pastels mark the concrete, indicating a path for the runners to follow as they make their way through the course. Each detail of the Lynbrook track meet is prudently organized, ensuring its smooth occurrence.
Track meets at Lynbrook are organized once a week. The process is primarily overseen by the team captains and Lynbrook cross country and track and field coach Bernie Ramos.
“The process doesn’t really change,” junior and varsity sprinter Bryan Zhao said. “It’s more about how efficiently the team can get it done.”
Athletes begin with placing the three high jump pits, each consisting of rectangular cushions that act as a padded landing area, the uprights that hold the crossbar in place, as well as the crossbar itself. They then set up the tents across the field for shade — one for the timer and another for the athletic trainer and a few tents for the athletes to rest under. Finally, the jumpers rake the pits, completing their setup for the meet.
For typical Lynbrook dual meets where the team faces off with another school, all the team members work together to set up all the equipment.
“My coach always emphasizes that everybody needs to help,” senior and team captain Chloe Chan said. “It takes a lot of people to move equipment around, especially when it is really early in the morning. Even if we are tired, we show up.”
However, for the large annual Lynbrook invitational meet, parents step up to volunteer and assist the athletes with the extensive setup.
“I’m a big believer that it takes a village to run anything,” Ramos said. “For us, it is a team effort.”
The annual Lynbrook invitational meet began in 2023 and came to fruition as a result of Bernie Ramos and his efforts. Unique from dual meets, the invitational meets gather all the most qualified athletes from multiple schools in the competition league. Having been a coach for over 15 years, Ramos has witnessed and attended various track meets. Oftentimes, the hosts would run into scheduling dilemmas that would result in delays that made race days span for as long as 12 hours. Ramos hoped to create a meet in which scheduled events could flow rapidly without any delay.
“I felt that if we all put in equal work and get the entire team involved, we could run an efficient competition and a really good meet,” Ramos said.
The success of the Lynbrook invitational meet comes as a result of the athletes’ and Ramos’ patience and perseverance.
Although the team has done a commendable job with setting up track meets, the coaching team and the athletes have large ambitions and are always looking to improve wherever possible.
“Our future goal is to make the invitational one of the top Northern California events for track and field,” Ramos said. “I want to make it big enough so that we can get sponsorships from big brands. It’s not going to happen overnight, but I can see it maybe happening within the next decade.”
