Track Q&A: Caila Tongco

Junior sprinter and hurdler Caila Tongco of the Pepperdine women's track team talks to us about the transition from indoor to outdoor track and what she hopes to improve on in order to keep posting personal and school records this season:

Q: How were your performances at the indoor meets?

A: I only ran in the first week because I rolled my ankle the second week. However, I was a 100th of a second off my PR in the hurdles so I guess it was setting me up for having a good season. They're good introductory races for the rest of the season. Even though none of them were super-successful, I still felt strong and ready to run for the rest of the season

Q: How does indoor track season prepare you for outdoor track?

A: Well we go almost a year, or like eight months, without really running in a race environment. So being able to kind of slowly and gradually get into that with indoors is really helpful. Especially, I think for the freshmen, because it's the first time experiencing what a college event is like.

Q: How has the team adjusted to the new head coach, Sylvia Mosqueda?

A: Overall, things have been running fairly smoothly. I work mostly our sprint coach, who's also new. We've gotten along really well. The team dynamic has definitely improved in morale and everything with our new coach.

Q: How have you prepared for outdoor season, which starts on Saturday?

A: I'd say just running longer distances, because indoors, it's only the 60 meters and then when it's outdoors, it's the 100 meters and you get tired toward the end of the 100. I know it probably doesn't seem like that much, but in a sprint race the last 40 meters can really change the outcome of the race. So, I'd say adjusting to that would be running more intense for longer distances. We are also are starting in the 4x100 relay, because there's no 4x100 indoor, so we kind of started working on that this week, which is always a really fun race.

Q: What are your goals for the season?

A: I'd say my individual goals are obviously to PR. I have the hundred hurdles record, but I want to keep improving in it and get closer to the flat race records in the 100 and the 200.

Q: How do you hope to improve from last season? Specifically looking at the school record you set.

A: I think in both the 60 hurdles, and the 100 hurdles, the improvements are mirrored because they're essentially the same race but just one is a little bit longer. Whenever I finish the race, I've never thought, that's the fastest I could run. I've never thought I don't know if I could run any faster than that, I've always finished and known that there's things that I can improve on. One of those things would be racing between the hurdles, which is something I kind of struggle with. You take three steps in between each hurdle, and you can get into a rhythm and your mind gets into a rhythm. So, breaking that habit and actually sprinting between the hurdles is something that you could always work on. Also, nobody has perfect form, and what's really central is your form in hurdles. So, I definitely could work on both those things.

Q: What does the team hope to accomplish this season?

A: I know that our coach was talking about running under 47 seconds for the 4x100 and that's something I definitely think is achievable. I really want to put all my energy and efforts into helping everyone find that one race where they know that they can be really passionate about. I think that would be a great goal at least for our girls' team, because we kind of do switch up our events often as a team as a whole.

Players Mentioned

Caila Tongco

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