Dulce Gaytan began her track and field career at Seymour Middle School, and said she enjoyed the sport so much that she wanted to continue throughout her high school days.

“I wanted to do something different. I was always in band, and I wanted to do something out of band,” Gaytan said.

Gaytan threw shot and discus her freshman year, with discus being her better event.

She said during her sophomore year, “I saw myself progressing, and I had help from my teammates and my coaches telling me to try to do this more.

“My discus was really good, but then I had a back problem, and it was really painful to throw discus. I was really excited, but then my back would always hurt, so I talked to the coach and he said, ‘why don’t you stick with shot put?’ So, I focused shot put this year and I did pretty decent. You have to have strong shoulders, strong legs, and move your hips.”

Gaytan said throwers have to have the proper technique to avoid being injured in throwing.

“The shot put is really heavy (12 pounds) and you can pull your hand out and hurt your muscles in your arm, so I usually would stick with my glide or a standing throw,” she said. “You had to have good posture, and have the right technique and always have your arm high. I enjoyed having the support of my coaches, and being out there with my friends.”

She said she tried to stay positive during every meet.

“You have to have a positive mind, and always think positive. I tried to push myself harder,” Gaytan said.

Gaytan said practice was important to getting better.

“You have to do the whole technique. Everyone started from zero at the beginning,” she said. “We would do standing throws, and then we started doing side throws, and then we did gliding. At the end we did our whole workout.”

The senior has enjoyed her experiences at SHS.

“What I like about the school is the community,” Gaytan said. “The staff here is really nice. I’ve been doing band since sixth grade. I do pep band “I joined JAG last year, and I help out as a translator. I’ve had a great time here. I’m going to miss it. I would encourage student to do something different. It’s going to change your life. Make your high school a nice experience.”