"Alonso Ravens Running for a Track"
When the doors of Alonso High School opened in the fall of 2001, excellence in and out of the classroom became the standard for all members of the Alonso family. Alonso High School will host over 3000 students annually, in the next couple of years. We have over 58% of our students on free and reduced lunch, and our population consists of 49% Hispanic, 34% White, 7% black and 6% multi-racial students. We are not an affluent school, but we are a family, and proud of our school and the people that come through our doors.
That same philosophy was extended to the competition surfaces of the Ravens Track and Field program. Now, entering our 12th season of competition, the Ravens track and field program stands firmly on the foundation of fun, fair, and equal opportunity, diversity of ideals, hard work, and a commitment to the school's mission. At Alonso High School we are a community where Excellence is the goal; Diversity is valued, and Integrity is expected!
Coach Roger Mills lead a resurgence of the Track and Field team in 2008. It began a renewal of recruiting the hallways, finding talented coaches who can teach the sport, maintaining proud academic standards and improving the reputation of the track and field team at Alonso. Coach Mills and his staff of asst. coaches, not only push the athletes to excel in their sport, they teach them the value of their education and being a part of the track family. They show the athletes the "possibilities" their future could hold, both on and off the track.
Now, records are perpetually falling and the Ravens are major players in Hillsborough County and (FL) state track standings. Over the past six years, Alonso has broken over 74 records, sent 36 athletes to the state meet, introduced a new team logo and won numerous district and regional individual titles.
In 2011, sprinter Brandon Holloway was not only among the most heralded athletes of the season, he became the first Raven to qualify for the state meet in three events. At the end of the 2011 campaign, 400M runner Franklin Mosely and high jumper Gigi Petion, became the first two Ravens to sign letters of intent out of high school, accepting partial scholarships to the University of South Florida.
The following year, sprinter/jumper Quatasia Fantroy became the first Raven to qualify for the state meet in four events, the maximum number of events in which an athlete can compete. That season, the Ravens placed four jumpers in the state final, believed to be the most in the state that season.
In 2013, the Ravens made history. Fantroy capped her incredible legacy at Alonso by claiming the school's first track and field state championship, taking home gold in the triple jump. That season, 11 Ravens qualified for the state finals, also the highest tally in school history.
At the end of the season, Fantroy and William Taylor-Haynes signed with Jackson State and North Carolina State respectively, bringing to five the number of ravens expected to compete in the NCAA in 2013/2014. The following spring, Alonso's Track and Field team kept breaking new ground, claiming the school's first track relay titles, with the girls winning the Nash Higgins and Manuel Griffin Relays. That year, the girls smashed the 4x800 record setting a time of 9:41 and set the 4X400 mark at 3:59.20, considered a state wide elite mark.
The 2015 team was the most successful squad in team history. We took 27 athletes to regionals, 13 athletes to the Class 4A state finals, and placed six of them on the medal podium. The 4X800 relay team finished 6th in the state, and Alyssa Jones and Kiana Williams were sixth and 8th respectively in shot put. The boys 4x800 and 4x400 teams were named to the Tampa Bay Times All County Track and Field First Team.
Now the rest of the story, and why we desperately need your help. Our athletes are currently practicing on an asphalt track, that is in need of resurfacing, to a rubberized surface. Our track equipment is in need of being replaced. We have athletes that are unable to even practice at our school and must go to another high school to practice pole vaulting because our equipment is not safe. We are unable to host track meets or an invitational meet because our track is not up to the standards of other area schools, and teams are hesitant to have their runners get hurt on our track. We have had athletes out for the entire season due to injuries.
In a 2002 report published by the "Journal of Applied Physiology," Amy Kerdok and colleagues stated that "tuned tracks" made of polyurethane, produced improvement in running speeds by two to three percent and decreased the number of running-related injuries by 50 percent, compared with track surfaces made with other materials.
Currently resurfacing our track will cost us about $120,000, not including new equipment. We can qualify for matching funds from the school district's education foundation of $50,000, as long as we raise matching funds to that amount. Our total goal is then $75,000, which leaves us $5000 to apply to equipment needs, or anything over that amount. Our number one goal is to get the resurfacing done as quickly as possible.
With your help we can make this new track a reality for our team. Please take a moment to watch the video attached to this page and see some of the great kids that make up the Alonso Track and Field team. Help make their dreams a reality.
