Catch us if you can - Guam track team heads to Pacific Games with high medal hopes

"Rhythm" is an apt term for the Team Guam athletics squad heading to the Pacific Games in the Solomon Islands. In a sport covering a range of events predicated on technique, form, endurance and pacing, every athlete's game is distinctly their own. But the heartbeat of OUR track team is one and the same, focused on standing atop the medal podium, and sharing the same stride.

"A lot of us are are used to representing a school, representing a club," noted Jeofrey Limtiaco, "but to represent your Island out in a out in an international competition, where there's so many other countries involved, it gives you get a sense and you feel that different sense of pride. And that's the biggest thing for me is representing our island the the best that I can, and then as a team."

The Pacific Games isn't just another meet – this is elite competition from across our region.  And we're up for the challenge.  "Definitely track is a backbone of any sport. I think if they understand the value in working on their speed, working on their endurance, it translates to just about any sport," Desmond Mandell shared as the team's head coach.

Now, athletics isn't an event that exists in a vacuum. This is a team of stars, accomplished in their own rights, coming together with a common stride.  Sprinter Hazel Wilson said, "It's an honor just to be able to represent Guam. Just doing that is so amazing and it's such a good learning experience."

The team hasn't been together for but the cohesion and chemistry were evident from Day 1, and that's a bond that makes a supportive difference and a big competitive advantage.  "I like practicing with these guys we have we only like meet like three two times a week and then we have Saturday practices, but it's been really fun," added Guinaiya Barcinas, who will be running the 800m and 300m sprints as well as the 400m hurdles.

Speed is what we need - and our national team can flat-out fly. So Coach Mandell's main job isn't controlling our tempo, but more harnessing emotion and finding a balance between burst and consistency. And this means managing nerves and instilling confidence. Mandell continued, "For a lot of them, it's their first competition, definitely their first major competition like this at the level Pacific Games level, so I think they're excited, they're anxious - and they're ready to go."

He added, "With track there's a lot of minuscule things that make a big difference in time or performance, so we're trying to just make sure that we instill the right techniques or goals that we're here for.

But from his perspective, Limtiaco, another sprinter and hurdler of and veteran of international competition, has this bit of wisdom: "The one thing I like to to tell a lot of the younger ones and even just anyone in general that's in the sport, is that if you're not nervous, then you don't love it. If you're going to a meet anxious and nervous, that's standard. That's normal. And a lot of us, we tend to to use that that anxiety and that that sense of nerves to our advantage," he commented.

Our rookies bring energy and spirit, and our more-tenured runners pack experience and focus. Taylor-Ann Santos returns to the Games, bringing leadership about not only the caliber her teammates will face out of the blocks, but also the overall experience.  She said, "Soak it all in, and just enjoy this process  and say, 'Okay, this is happening!' Like, just put your best foot forward."

Limtiaco knows Guam's ready, fully-loaded with and powered by the two skills any track team needs to earn victory. "The beauty of it all is that this whole sport is built on adrenaline and hard work," he said with rigid intensity.

So as our lightning-fast squad makes the long trek to the South Pacific to the Solomons, we wish them good luck, a safe journey, and a speedy race on the track, out on the course and in the field.

No worries there.