While many students surrendered to the musical sounds of Coachella, the San Dieguito Academy track and field team competed at the Grizzly Invitational hosted by Mission Hills High School on April 20. This particular meet is the only co-ed competition of the season and allowed SDA to show off the stellar teamwork between the girls and boys teams in each event. The day itself was sweltering and the scarcity of shade was very visible, as all teams huddled under tents in an attempt to hide from the sun. Fortunately, SDA was unfazed by the heat and was able to walk away with the 1st place trophy and a plethora of individual medals.
The Grizzly Invitational is one of the few times that SDA gets to compete with high schools similar to its size, including Montgomery, Francis Parker, and High Tech High. The most intense event of the day was the Grizzly Relay, a 3200 meter event where the grizzly mascot slowly removes people from the back of the group until there are only five runners left from the 12 that start.
In total, the team spent close to six hours at the event, yet neither the length of the meet nor the heat could stop SDA from showing their team spirit as we were one of the only schools to cheer on both our fellow Mustangs and competitors as well.