Sophomore thrower Wade Tsang is one of two male De Anza athletes to have a state qualifying ‘A’ mark, which he earned in discus. His best throw this season is 47.5 meters.

Though he said he’s happy with his marks, he said he hasn’t met his pre-season expectations.

“I feel like I’ve worked hard and the payoff hasn’t been that great yet,” Tsang said. “But we still got a little bit of the season left, so I hope I’ll end up where I want to.”

Tsang, who stands 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs 190 pounds, said as an undersized thrower, strength is his biggest obstacle.

“As a small guy, my technique has to be on point to keep up with the big guys,” he said.

Tsang said many people don’t realize how important technique is for his events.

“You can’t just pick up something an just try to throw it,” he said. “It’s way too difficult.”

Besides discus, Tsang leads the team in javelin with a mark of 46.64 meters and competes in hammer throw and shot put, as well.

Tsang said throwers are often stereotyped as being fat. He objected to this and said throwers are “very athletic”, but added a caveat.

“Most of them,” he said, chuckling.

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Freshman distance runner Erick Almaguer set an all time De Anza top-10 record when he ran the 10,000-meter run in 33 minutes and 29 seconds at San Francisco State on April 6. It was also the ninth best time in the NorCal region this year.

Not bad for never having run the event before.

“I think I can run better than that,” Almaguer said. “But since it was my first time, I went too fast (in the beginning).”

He ran three years in high school and often suffered from tightness in the hip. Almaguer said he’s been doing specific stretches to address the problem and this is the first year he’s been injury-free.

Almaguer also holds De Anza’s season bests in the 3,000-meter and 5,000-meter runs. He is ranked seventh and 15th, respectively. in these events in NorCal.

He was straightforward when asked how the events are different.

“They’re all the same because you feel the same pain, you still have to push” he said.

He said the 10,000 meter was his favorite event because of the challenge of running 25 laps.

“You just have to be strong in each lap,” he said. “Only a few people do the 10K.”

Almaguer has his eye on the NorCal finals where he is confident he can run a 10,000 meter good enough to qualify for the state finals

“I just have to be patient in the first three miles,” he said. “And then with three miles to go, just execute.”

ERICK ALMAGUER (Photographed by Bryce Druzin)