Track and field head to first indoor competition of the season

Home Charger Track and Field Track and field head to first indoor competition of the season
Track and field head to first indoor competition of the season
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The Hillsdale College women’s track squad runs a distance event at an indoor meet last season. (Photo: Anders Kiledal / Hillsdale Collegian)

The cross country season came to a close last week, and now Charger track and field is gearing up for its first indoor meet this weekend, Dec. 2 and 3, at Saginaw Valley State University’s Holiday Classic meet.

Last year’s indoor season was highly successful for the women’s squad which finished second in the GLIAC conference — a national runner-up. The men’s team came in third in the GLIAC.

Head coach Andrew Towne said he’s optimistic about the upcoming season, and so are his teams.

“The season has a chance to be similar, especially on the women’s side,” Towne said.

The teams have been training hard since September, under the diligent guidance of the coaching staff.

“It’s been a really good fall across all the groups,” said Towne. “We continue to really make an attempt to individualize everything, which requires a lot from all the coaches, but is really good for the kids.”

Assistant coach Nathaniel Miller said that after months of preparation, both teams are ready to start competing.

“We’re excited to finally get things going,” Miller said. “It’s been a long preparation. We’re ready to go and we’ve been ready for a while.”

The program added three new staff members this year, though two of them have coached at Hillsdale in the past. Towne said the adjustment to the staffing change has gone well.

Stargell Williams, the new throws coach, is one of the additions to the team. Williams is from Tallahassee, Florida, and attended Florida State University where he threw shot put. Since graduating, he has interned as a coach and came to Hillsdale for his first experience coaching on his own.

“I saw that Hillsdale was a good program — one that I wanted to be a part of. It’s also a great place to start my career,” Williams said.

With a technical-oriented coaching style, Williams is taking things back to basics and said the athletes have adjusted well to new conditioning and practice. Williams said he’s especially excited for the weight throw this season.

“I want us ultimately to be ready for conference and nationals,” he said. “That’s where I want us to step up.”

Towne said he feels the team is the most balanced it has ever been, and emphasized the importance of quality over depth. He said the quality of athletes across all event groups is what led to success last year. The program asks its athletes to commit themselves to developing every day, rather than focusing on outcome, in order to reach this level of quality.

“We expect the athletes to strive to be a better version of themselves every day — better than they were the last day. That’s what the fall is about. I think our team mantra is excellent,” Miller said. “The team is at a point where they understand the success of the season depends on developing ourselves every day.”

Traditionally, the team travels to Findlay for the first meet of the season. This year Towne wanted to switch things up.“I feel good about where we’re going. Findlay has been a good meet for us over the years… There’s a lot more options now. I felt it was in our best interest to compete at Saginaw,” Towne said.

 Everything the teams do is to prepare for the NCAA Division-II national meet scheduled for March 10 and 11.