Saturday, May 16, 2026
The last track meet of the season was upon us.
It was the 66th Annual
Hap Rapp Meet
The meet, held at Camarillo H.S., is sponsored by Camarillo's Rotary Club and annually brings together Fourth through Eighth Grade athletes from all 14 of the elementary and middle schools serving the Camarillo community.
It was announced the a record 585 athletes were on hand to compete in six running events (50 Meters, 100 Meters, 400 Meters, 800 Meters, 1600 Meters and 4 x 100 Meters Relay) and three field events (Shot Put, High Jump and Long Jump).
Each athlete is allowed to enter a maximum of three individual events plus the relay.
Each athlete competes only against other athletes from other schools in the same grade.
It was a BEAUTIFUL day for a track meet!
The stands at Camarillo H.S. were filling up
The Rotary Club's mascot was
IN THE HOUSE!
I gave him a hug too.
It promised to be a long day
And it was.
The Rotary Club does many great things for the citizens of Camarillo but running an organized track meet isn't one of them.
Mary, representing the Fifth Grade at Tierra Linda Elementary School Hawks, was entered in the 50 Meters Dash, Long Jump and 4 x 100 Meters Relay.
Jacob, was running for the Las Colinas Middle School Mustangs' Eighth Grade team. His chosen events were 400 Meters Dash, 600 Meters Run, Long Jump and 4 x 100 Meters Relay.
Mary and Jacob were ready
to roll for their schools
Jacob at the start of his 400 Meters
Pushing to the front entering
the back stretch
His running form looked good to
me as he sped by my spot
Jacob won his Heat 2 easily but
came home 0.01 seconds behind
the winner of Heat 1
Second Place Ribbon
on the 400 Meter Podium
Jacob whizzing by me at the
start of the 800 Meters
Nearing the end of the first lap
Bringing it home with a big lead
on the second lap
One of the school's competing today was the Camarillo Academy of Progressive Education Comets, usually referred to as the C.AP.E. Comets.
If you note the group of Comets in red on the right, many of them, fittingly, wore red capes today.
To paraphrase Art Linkletter, Kids Do the Darndest Things.
By the way, if you got the Art Linkletter reference with Googling it, you are ancient.
Jacob finished the 800 Meters
comfortably
Jacob took First Place!
Atop the podium with that coveted
Blue Ribbon
Mary's turn to start her day
in the Long Jump
She is seen here getting some last minute instructions from Michael.
She's off!
Leap and . . .
. . . hope for a soft landing
The results of the Long Jump have still not been posted as I write this but Mary did not make it to the podium.
She looked really good and relaxed on her jumps today.
Jacob with life-long family
friend Maverick
Michael was working HARD
today as a volunteer
I took 9,979 steps today according to my phone's Health app.
Michael must have taken twice that many.
Sportsmanship in the 50 Meters
When this sprinter tripped and took a hard tumble to the track, the young lad in the lane next to him stopped running and went back to comfort his fallen comrade.
This was the best thing that I saw today that didn't involve the grandkids.
Mary roaring down the track
in her Heat of the 50 Meters
Driving to the finish line
Quite happy with her Second Place
finish in this Heat
Her time was 9.23.
Jacob's turn at the Long Jump
Up in the air . . .
. . . Reaching . . .
. . . and Landing
Laurie watching the Long Jump
from afar at our base camp
Attempt #2 looked solid
Jacob's third and final attempt . . .
. . . ended with a hard landing that
hurt his tail bone
Again, the Long Jump results have yet to be posted but . . .
. . . Jacob took home the Red Ribbon
for his Second Place Jump
On to the grandkids final event of the day, their 4 x 100 Meters Relays, the last races of the day.
Unfortunately, Mary informed us that her school did not have four Fifth Grade girls available to run so the scratch ended her day.
Jacob's team was raring and willing to run, bruised tail bone be damned.
Jacob running the Anchor Leg
This was going to be a dandy finish
Neck-and-Neck all the way
down the home stretch
Almost to the finish line
Leaning for the . . .
. . . WIN!
I'll take one of Jacob's smiles and a thumbs up any day.
A tight finish indeed!
The Las Colinas Relay Team atop
the podium
GOOD TIMES!
The meet was now over and it was now 3:15 p.m.
The word was that several of the kids and their families were going to gather at Institution Ale just down the street for pizza and some season ending celebrating.
Laurie and I offered to head over and secure us all a table while the kids gathered up everything, including our two socially active grandkids.
The one annoying, year-after-year annoyance with the Hap Rapp meet, is the incredibly slow pace of handing out the ribbons to the top five finishers in each event.
When we left, several kids were still awaiting their hard earned ribbons.
Of course, their was also the issue of tabulating the point totals that each individual athlete had accrued during the day's competition. The purpose of this is to give out the Boys and Girls Athlete of the Meet at each grade level.
Last year Jacob won the award as the Boys Seventh Grade Athlete of the Meet.
We had been at Institution Ale for over an hour and still no families had joined us.
What was up?
Then Vanessa sent us a video.
That is Vanessa's voice getting
a tad excited for some reason
Jacob earned this year's Hap Rapp Track Meet Eighth Grade Boys Athlete of the Meet.
We couldn't be happier for him.
These five Las Colinas Mustangs
won Athlete of the Meet trophies
for, from left to right, Eighth,
Seventh and Sixth Grade levels
Las Colinas' do-everything Coach Frank is standing behind them.
Las Colinas taking home five of the six Athlete of the Meet trophies at the middle school level was impressive.
Jacob and two of his close friends
Two happy siblings and . . .
. . . one happy family!
Finally they all arrived at
Institution Ale
They brought locust-like appetites with them.
Just hanging out on a nice
Saturday afternoon
We had a fine time at the adults' table talking with the likable parents of these great kids.
The apples did not fall far from these really positive parents.
It was a great way to end the 2026 track season.
On to Saturday's news from EuroBall . . .
Spanish DII
Quarterfinal Playoff Result
The Madrid Conference #2 Seed Alcorcón Smilodons (6-2) routed the Norte Conference #1 Seed Valladolid Penguins (6-2).
Italian DI Result
As expected, the Parma Panthers (5-2) spanked the Bologna Warriors (1-5).
Italian DI Result
No big surprise here either, as the Ancona Dolphins (4-3) got by the Ferrara Aquile (2-5) comfortably.
Italian DII Result
Girone A Conference
The Milano Seamen (6-2) with a tougher time than expected with the Torino Reapers (3-4).
Italian DII Result
Girone B Conference
The Padova Saints (6-2) took care of business against the Cecina Trappers (4-3).
Italian DIII Result
Girone C Conference
The Roma Mavericks (2-3) with a much needed win over the Roma Gladiatori (2-3).
Italian DIII Result
Girone E Conference
The Trieste Muli (5-1) struggled today but finally beat the stubborn Castelfranco Cavaliers (3-3).
Italian DIII Result
Girone F Conference
The Bologna Doves (3-2) needed a shutout to defeat the Romagna Titans (2-4).
European Football Alliance Result
This was the fledgling league's second game of their inaugural season. The Nordic Storm (1-0), based in Copenhagen, Denmark, with an easy victory over the Czech Republic's Prague Lions (0-1).
Another GREAT day to be alive!
No comments:
Post a Comment