Looking for warmer weather, the men and women’s track team headed south to Raleigh, North Carolina to compete through the weekend in the first meet of the outdoor season.
“I’m excited to get down to a big-time meet this early in the year,” said head men’s coach Jeff Forino.
The team is coming off an indoor track season that boasted 13 national qualifiers.
For previously redshirted athletes, the new outdoor season offers a chance to compete again. Junior Cassidy Kaufman redshirted for the last outdoor and indoor season due to an injury, but he will be competing in the triple jump in North Carolina.
“Now that it’s outdoor season I’m absolutely stoked to compete and beat people,” he said. “Our team is going to do well and we are definitely going to compete in the GLIAC for sure.”
Sophomores Emily Oren, Kate Royer, and Kristina Galat, and junior Amy Kerst will not be attending because they are recovering from competing at nationals.
“They’re getting back in the swing of training, but as far as I know they’ll be at the next outdoor meet,” assistant coach Samantha Kearney said.
Forino said going south for this meet will allow them to compete against a lot of teams from the East Coast instead of the same teams from the Midwest.
“I like it when we go to meets and we don’t know all the people there,” he said. “You don’t know what to expect and that makes it exciting.”
The teams intentionally head south for the warmer temperatures.
“It’s especially nice for sprinters to be in the warmer climate because your body responds better,” junior Elly Byron said.
The start of the outdoor season means the teams will now compete in the discus, javelin, steeplechase, 10K and the 1500 instead of the mile. Forino said the strength for the men’s team is that they do well in all event areas.
“We are very well rounded,” he said. “We have guys in every area that could make nationals, so that is very exciting.”
The men who competed at nationals will not skip this meet but may compete in fewer events. Kearney said the women’s team is young and gained a lot of experience from the indoor season that will help them in the outdoor season.
“I’ve been talking to a lot of the team, and they’re hungry to compete,” she said.
