Dominic Masiarchin has earned his place in the Trucker record books after completing a strong season of stellar soccer and State track meet dominance.
Masiarchin began the school year on the soccer team, playing forward and midfielder. Though the team was in a rebuilding year, Masiarchin managed to score 16 goals while helping mentor younger players to new levels of success.
"We had lots of good leadership from our seniors this year, but we also had lots of young players," Masiarchin explained. "We had our 'work' times and our 'fun' times. In all, we really had to work hard for everything, and we did it as a team. Those of us who were seniors this year did our best to help the freshmen and underclassmen. We didn't have a strong season in terms of our record, but we had fun and I enjoyed passing my knowledge of the game on to the younger players."
After the soccer season ended, Masiarchin found himself in the weight room. "I lifted a lot and I ran a lot," he said. "I knew I wanted to go to state for track, and I knew some school records might be within reach, so I worked really hard all winter long."
As he worked for athletic success, Masiarchin said his teachers and family helped him keep the right balance and pushed him to work just as hard in the classroom.
"My parents taught me to always put school work first," he said. "So, many times I would have to finish my homework before I went to work out. It was good to have that balance. My teachers pushed me to work hard in the classroom, and my coaches pushed me to work hard in my athletic training. My parents made sure I kept a good balance of fun and hard work in both arenas."
When the track season finally arrived, Masiarchin set his sights on school records in the 100m, 200m and 400m dash. "I didn't do any relays this year; I just focused on the 100, 200 and 400. Every practice I'd look up at that record board and remind myself what I had to beat," he said. "Knowing it was my senior year helped me push even harder-it was now or never."
Masiarchin went on to set a new school record in all three events. He ran the 100m dash in a blistering 10.86 seconds, and set the 200m dash record at 21.86. He broke his own record in the 200m dash on one other occasion during the season.
The 400m dash proved to be more of a challenge.
"My coaches worked with me on my starts in the 400m dash," he explained. "I had a tougher time with that race, but I eventually broke the record at Regionals. It was a really nice feeling to know that I had finally reached that goal."
Masiarchin also did his best to help other Trucker sprinters.
"When it comes to track, it's more of a 'show you' rather than 'tell you' kind of sport," he said. "I didn't really know how to offer lots of technical advice, but I tried to help them with their starts and their running technique. Sometimes I didn't know exactly how to help, so I just told them, 'just watch what I do' and then I ran as best as I could."
Masiarchin said he really enjoyed the track season because of his teammates and family, who supported him every step of the way.
"My teammates were so fun," he said. "We always had a blast, and everyone was so positive.
"My mom was also a huge supporter. She would show up at the track meets with my four younger siblings and I was always happy to see her and amazed that she went to the trouble to get all the little ones ready and bring them to my meets. That was pretty special," he said. "By the way-my mom gave me the speed and athleticism gene."
Masiarchin said he hopes his records stand for a while, but knows that someday they will fall to another star athlete.
"Records were meant to be broken," stated Masiarchin. "I'm happy I got them, but there will always be another to come along and break them again."
Masiarchin will travel to Anaheim, California on a missions trip through his church. After he completes the two-year mission, he plans to attend Brigham Young University.