Tigers end indoor, kick off outdoor season
Track and field team dominates in Minnesota, looks toward home meet
Tom Tielleman
Issue date: 3/5/10 Section: Sports
Last Friday, the men's and women's track and field teams were scheduled to be in New York at New York University's Fast Track indoor meet. However, Mother Nature had different plans.
"We took off from Atlanta and headed to New York," said Head Coach David Svoboda. "We got about twenty minutes from New York and the weather turned so bad that they turned around and sent us back to Atlanta. So we stayed in Atlanta Thursday night, got up Friday morning and things weren't looking any better in New York. They ended up actually cancelling all the flights that day, so we never would have made it."
However, the team did not let this sidetrack prevent them from competing. Instead, the teams headed their way to St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota to compete in another meet. There, the team won in seven different events.
The men's team captured five events. Senior Chass Armstrong won the mile race. Senior Todd Wildman won both the 55-meter hurdles and the long jump and was a member of the victorious 4X400 meter relay team along with Senior Brennen Peters, Junior Zach Brush, and Sophomore Spencer Hayes. Hayes also won the 55-meter dash.
Senior Nicole Fisk won the 400-meter dash and Elana Edwards, first year, won the high jump for the women.
However, the team took these successes with a grain of salt.
"Looking at it, it looks like we did really well, but that was our last chance to qualify for the National Championship in two weeks and even though we won a lot of events, we ended up not qualifying anybody for the National Championship," Wildman said. "Despite winning a lot of events, it wasn't as satisfying as we hoped it would have been."
Team members that did previously qualify for the National Championship indoor meet will turn their focus to Greencastle, Indiana, where Nationals will be held next weekend. Afterward, the entire team will turn their attention to the outdoor track and field season.
"I think we're moving in the right direction," Svoboda said. "We're in a position that we're going to take about six people to the Indoor National Championships. Last year, we had six at the outdoor meet and two at the indoor meet. So to equal what we did outdoors last year is a great accomplishment."
"Looking at our chances at the indoor National Championship, I think we're looking pretty solid," Wildman said. "Overall, as a whole, our outdoor men's team is going to be a force to be reckoned with and our women's team is looking really strong too. People have shown a lot of improvement over this year, and it's going to be a really good season for the Trinity team."
While select members from the team competed in the indoor meet, others participated in the Inaugural University of the Incarnate Word Track and Field Meet. Justin Campbell, sophomore, won the discus event, and Caitlin Masse, junior, won the women's 1,500 meter. Robert Edmonds, sophomore, ran the fourth fastest time in Trinity history in the 1,500 meter, and Emily Shiraki, first year, jumped 9'6" in the pole vault, which is also a fourth-best score in Trinity history for the event.
The Tigers now look forward to the Trinity Open, which begins at 11:00 p.m. tomorrow at the track.
"We took off from Atlanta and headed to New York," said Head Coach David Svoboda. "We got about twenty minutes from New York and the weather turned so bad that they turned around and sent us back to Atlanta. So we stayed in Atlanta Thursday night, got up Friday morning and things weren't looking any better in New York. They ended up actually cancelling all the flights that day, so we never would have made it."
However, the team did not let this sidetrack prevent them from competing. Instead, the teams headed their way to St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota to compete in another meet. There, the team won in seven different events.
The men's team captured five events. Senior Chass Armstrong won the mile race. Senior Todd Wildman won both the 55-meter hurdles and the long jump and was a member of the victorious 4X400 meter relay team along with Senior Brennen Peters, Junior Zach Brush, and Sophomore Spencer Hayes. Hayes also won the 55-meter dash.
Senior Nicole Fisk won the 400-meter dash and Elana Edwards, first year, won the high jump for the women.
However, the team took these successes with a grain of salt.
"Looking at it, it looks like we did really well, but that was our last chance to qualify for the National Championship in two weeks and even though we won a lot of events, we ended up not qualifying anybody for the National Championship," Wildman said. "Despite winning a lot of events, it wasn't as satisfying as we hoped it would have been."
Team members that did previously qualify for the National Championship indoor meet will turn their focus to Greencastle, Indiana, where Nationals will be held next weekend. Afterward, the entire team will turn their attention to the outdoor track and field season.
"I think we're moving in the right direction," Svoboda said. "We're in a position that we're going to take about six people to the Indoor National Championships. Last year, we had six at the outdoor meet and two at the indoor meet. So to equal what we did outdoors last year is a great accomplishment."
"Looking at our chances at the indoor National Championship, I think we're looking pretty solid," Wildman said. "Overall, as a whole, our outdoor men's team is going to be a force to be reckoned with and our women's team is looking really strong too. People have shown a lot of improvement over this year, and it's going to be a really good season for the Trinity team."
While select members from the team competed in the indoor meet, others participated in the Inaugural University of the Incarnate Word Track and Field Meet. Justin Campbell, sophomore, won the discus event, and Caitlin Masse, junior, won the women's 1,500 meter. Robert Edmonds, sophomore, ran the fourth fastest time in Trinity history in the 1,500 meter, and Emily Shiraki, first year, jumped 9'6" in the pole vault, which is also a fourth-best score in Trinity history for the event.
The Tigers now look forward to the Trinity Open, which begins at 11:00 p.m. tomorrow at the track.
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