April 27, 2015
Brandon Applehans
[email protected]
Both the men and women’s track and field teams have reached the final 100-meters of their season.
The Colorado College Invitational on April 4 served as a race similar to the Rust Bust of the cross country season. The men and women used the event to fine-tune their skills in preparation for the rest of the season.
Matt Winfrey, senior, and Caleb Simons, freshman, both recorded wins in their individual events. Winfrey won the 800-meter run by more than two seconds, and Simons clocked a time of 23.30 seconds to win the 200-meter dash.
Head coach Mark Misch said the event served its purpose.
“It’s a pretty low-key meet,” he said. “It’s practically a tune-up meet. It’s nice, it’s local and it doesn’t cost us anything. It was fun and we got done what we needed to.”
Both teams then traveled to California where they competed in the Cal State-LA Twilight Open April 16. For the women, freshman Molly Klotz emerged as a driving force for the Mountain Lions.
In the 400-meter hurdles, Klotz recorded a fifth place finish with a time of 1 minute 3.18 seconds.
“It was just exciting to get to travel somewhere, especially California,” said Klotz. “It’s really exciting to be at a really big meet with tons of school and tons of divisions. I just told myself I wanted to run well.”
Head coach Corey Kubatzky, said her talent and approach are unique.
“There was some level of expectations coming in, especially in the hurdles,” he said. “She was the state champ last year as a senior, and had the fastest time in Colorado.”
“She’s very talented, but what sets her apart is how she approaches competition being very competitive and doesn’t get scared,” said Kubatzky. “She gets excited and wants to beat people.”
At the Bryan Clay Invitational on April 17 in Azusa, Calif., it was the men’s team who had a young talent emerge.
Sophomore distance runner Corey Brown improved his 5,000-meter time by 21.45 seconds.
“To have shaved over 20 seconds off my time is such a blessing,” said Brown. “It’s inexplicably fulfilling to reach a goal beyond that which may seem unachievable, especially when regarding the results of previous races. To me, it’s not something I could have done alone.”
For Misch, watching Brown excel in his sophomore year is good to see.
“He had a good year for us in cross country and ran real well at nationals,” said Misch. “He has just progressed.”
“We had three sophomores and a freshman run at the national cross country championship, so that’s pretty good,” he added. “Coming off of that, these guys are pretty amped up so they are going to keep banging away. It’s what we expect.”
After the Colorado Mines Pre-Conference meet April 24-25, both teams will compete in the RMAC Outdoor Championships May 1-3 in Pueblo.