Athletes typically dread the conditioning portion of practice, however campus track stars, believe building endurance is vital for success.

Senior Aliza Ford and junior Kim Swift have been running for a combined twelve years.

“Most of the events in track are individual,” Swift said. “Although for a team to win, each individual wins points and the most overall wins the meet.”

Ford agrees with Swift regarding tracks’ individual and team qualities, but enjoys the down time throughout a meet.”

“You may win your race, but your team may not win the meet overall,” Ford said. “You get to know people better on your team and on other teams during the down time in between events.”

Both athletes used to participate in other sports, but shifted focus to only one sport.

“I used to be involved in volleyball, basketball, soccer, softball and football,” Swift said. “I have decided to only run track because I have a great opportunity to run in college and maybe beyond that if I work hard.”

Coupled with four years of track, Ford participated in volleyball for four years and soccer for three years.

“Dedication and hard work is a huge part of success in track,” Swift said. “You have to be conditioned and mentally prepared for each event.”

The payoff for their dedication and hard work seems to provide opportunities to run in the League Championships on April 25.

“This year I won four first place finishes,” Ford said. “My favorite experience was running at the League Championships.”

Swift and Ford view their competititon as a huge advantage in their own personal growth.

“We’re always pushing each other because we are so close in build, structure and strength,” Swift said. “It’s been great having someone as humble and motivated to compete against and push me further.”

While earlier in the year Ford beat Swift in the 100m, Swift returned the favor and won the last two races.

Track coach Ericlee Gilmore enjoys having both female athletes on one team.

“Having such great athletes on our team is super,” Gilmore said. “They led the girls this year along with Janae Ford (’09) and Quinn Livingston (’10).”

Gilmore also recognizes the difficulty trying to replace Aliza Ford.

“To replace what Aliza has done will be very hard,” Gilmore said. “We will have to either have a transfer or split her events between several people.”

Ford plans to attend Fresno Pacific University in the fall and participate in track and field in the spring.

“This winter, I did not play soccer because I was training for track,” Ford said. “It was a tough decision to make, but I had to make a choice. Instead I decided to train at Velocity Sports” to sharpen my running skills.”