Feb. 23, 2015
Brandon Applehans
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After a trip to nationals for cross country in the fall, the women’s track and field team wants to take that success into indoor.
The Mountain Lions won the 4×400-meter relay at the Western State Alumni Open on Feb. 7.
“It’s always good to win,” said interim head coach Corey Kubatzky. “It’s a nice reward for all the hard work they put in. There are some good national qualifiers in the 4×4 teams in the conference, so we are looking to finish top four.”
Senior runner Jessica Todd helped the 4×400 meter relay take first place and finished second in the 400-meter dash.
“We have run a couple 4×4’s before, but that meet I felt that we all put it together and we meshed really well,” said Todd. “Western’s new track felt great. It really gives us a lot of confidence going into conference play knowing that we know what we can do, and possibly more.”
Senior Sam Bauer took second in the 3,000-meter run.
“The race gave me confidence,” said Bauer. “I know that I can go out in the conference in a week and know that I can be a contender and compete.”
The last event on the schedule before the RMAC Indoor Championships on Feb. 27-28 is the Joe Davies Open on Feb. 20 in Golden.
“This meet is our last tune-up meet before the conference championships, so obviously that’s the focus of our season for indoors,” said Kubatzky. “Indoors is built towards outdoor season so we want to be running pretty well by the conference championship.”
The team has already been to the School of Mines track for three meets this season and according to Todd the smaller, 188-meter track can be awkward for sprinters.
“When you are running the sprinting events, the tight curves affect you and can slow you down; especially if you are in the inner lanes,” said Todd.
The seniors look to lead by example.
“I like being an influence on the younger girls,” said Bauer. “It’s great helping them get better and to get to the level that I’m at now. It’s just better for the team later on. When I was a freshman, because our team was so new, I had to figure a lot of things out by myself.”
“We have some great freshmen coming in,” added Todd. “They love the leadership dynamic they are getting from me and the other seniors. They listen and you can tell they are taking in whatever we give them. They are going to be great when they get to our position.”