WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers TEST DRIVE- Sinaloa Middle School sixth-grader Sahm Basargan, 12, crosses the finish line first during an "Elite Run" held Wednesday on the school's new track. Students were invited to improve their run times on the new .46 mile track after a ribbon cutting marking the track's opening. Students on the Sinaloa Middle School track were doing their best Steve Prefontaine impressions.

No records were broken Wednesday morning, but the day wasn't about medals or awards.

Sinaloa dedicated its new $65,503 track under a brilliant sky and the group of close to 100 student athletes who improved their time most over the course of the year raced in front of their cheering classmates.

"It's a lot of fun and we've got beautiful weather," Principal Leslie Frank said as the last group of students shuffled back to class. "It's just one of those days that we wanted to enjoy being able to celebrate."

The .46 mile-track is made of redwood headers secured with stakes, crushed base material and decomposed granite.

The idea for the track came in spring 2007. Sinaloa discovered it had about $31,000 from Assembly Bill 1802, which can be used to fund art, music or physical education. Once the school decided to build a track, it allotted more than $23,500 in C4 Bond discretionary funds for the project, while Simi Valley Unified School District contributed almost $11,000.

Over the summer, Sinaloa's facilities and grounds crew killed grass where the track would be built. Casden Properties and Cobalt Construction donated some materials, Frank said, and began their work last December. Thomas A Robertson Engineering continued work on the track in March and students first ran on it when they returned from spring break.

SVUSD Superintendent Kathryn Scroggin, school board member Jeanne Davis and director of secondary education Bill Waxman also attended Wednesday's celebration.

Nancy Lopez, Sinaloa PE department chair, said the new surface "improves times and it's safer than running on the field when we had gopher hole problems." Students would twist ankles or trip on the gopher holes when they ran on the grass.

After the ribbon cutting, four groups of students raced.

Hannah Bauer, 13, won the first race by a hair. She was awarded a Jamba Juice gift certificate, a Gatorade and an Otter Pop.

"The track's pretty good," said Hannah, who prefers playing volleyball, soccer and basketball. "I'm pretty competitive. It was just for fun, really."

Eighth-grader Kyle Mogg, 15, also enjoyed the new track. For the last 10 years, Kyle has run with the Simi Valley Running Rebels club team, and enjoys competing in the 1,500meter and 800-meter races.

"It was fun just getting to run," Kyle said. "I enjoy being fit and getting to race against other people."

"It's got better traction. We use to always slip on the gopher holes," said eighthgrader Robert Gormaz, 13, who was panting after the race. "It was tiring."

Only two runners didn't finish the half-mile run: One girl was derailed by muscle cramps on the final turn and a boy stopped halfway through.

The day was filled with fitness and fun, with students and teachers giddy knowing that only 12 days of school remained. Students yelled for their friends to finish strong and giggled when yellow and white balloons popped at the finish line.

A poster on a school building summed up the event perfectly: "Never go a mile without a smile."