Eagles are off to the races
The indoor track and field team starts its season at the Yellow Jacket Holiday Open with a roster of 84 returning and new athletes
Indoor track and field team is ready for the blanks to fire, signaling the start of its season.
“I’m excited to see how our marks and times improve this year from last year,” Shane Collins, sophomore of Bison, South Dakota, said.
He said that the unknowns that last year held made thinks hard on athletes to perform at their best and this year’s stability will bring accomplishments above their current expectations.
The men’s indoor track and field team have welcomed back over thirty athletes like Naishaun Jernigan, junior of Springfield, Massachusetts, who placed eighth with a leap of 23 feet, 10.25 inches in the long jump during last season’s NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships and earned All American honors.
The team will also see sprinter and jumper Morgan Fawver, junior of McCook, back on the track along with the members of last year’s 4×400 relay team: Osvaldo Cano, junior of Oshkosh; Osiel Cano, junior of Oshkosh; Harley Rhoads, senior of Douglas, Wyoming; and Gregory Logsdon, sophomore of Torrington, Wyoming.
A number of placing jumpers returned as well as throwers like Collins and Jordyn Spencer, junior of Loveland, Colorado.
There will be 20 new men’s track athletes building a roster that currently consists of 54 athletes.
“It has been great having new athletes on the team,” Collins said. “It always brings a little extra competition into the mix.”
Chadron State women’s track team is filled with 30 athletes, 18 of the athletes returning from last year.
Miranda Gilkey, senior of Lusk, Wyoming, and Destiny Pelton, sophomore of Fort Morgan, Colorado, are some jumpers leaping back into the season for jumps along with multis like Julieanne Thomsen, redshirt junior of Custer, South Dakota, and Johannah Christie, sophomore of Alpine, Wyoming.
Throwers Morgan Ekwall, Becca Monahan, and Courtney Smith have been back in the ring, all of the throwers working with a new coach.
Collins said that the new coach has been great to work with so far.
“There is always an adjustment period when a new coach comes in but I think that what Coach Lizzie brings to the program will be beneficial to the program as we continue through the season.”
Last year the indoor season consisted of seven meets, four of them being hosted by Black Hills State University.
This year, the season will begin at BHSU for the Yellow Jacket Holiday Open, Friday and Saturday before the Eagles make trips to Golden, Colorado, and Brookings, South Dakota.
Collins said he hopes to improve this season by passing some mental barriers that keeps him from accomplishing things.
“For this weekend, I’m hoping to see myself and my teammates hit some solid marks and times and really set this season off in the right direction,” he said.