Runners on track for a strong indoor season
HOSEA KOST
hykost16@ole.augie.edu
The Augustana track and field team smashed school and personal records all winter long, nabbing provisional qualifying marks along the way.
The track and field team competed at six indoor meets this winter, three at South Dakota State University and three at Mankato State University.
Josh Barrows, a junior sprinter, broke the school record in the 600-meter at the indoor preseason meet at SDSU in December. With a time of 1 minute and 19.72 seconds, he beat the previous record of 1 minute and 20.62 seconds set in 2012.
At the SDSU Indoor Classic on Saturday, Barrows placed second and ran a personal best of 1 minute and 54.12 seconds in the 800-meter. Barrows’ time was enough for a provisional qualification and is the 15th best time in Division-2.
Wyatt McLeod, a sophomore distance runner, has been shattering his own times in every race. McLeod’s best time came when he placed second, finishing the mile with a time of 4 minutes and 16.46 seconds at MSU on February 3.
Alana Sesow, a sophomore distance runner, ran a personal-best time of 10 minutes and 27 seconds in the 3-kilometer run.
With the NSIC Indoor Championship Meet on the horizon, expect to see men in multi-colored leggings running on ice in the coming weeks in preparation.
Last year, the men’s team placed fourth and the women’s placed fifth at the NSIC Indoor Championship.
Once the snow melts, the outdoor season will begin. Excitement from indoor season is carrying through to the outdoor.
“In the next few weeks I’m looking forward to seeing where the rest of the season takes me and seeing my teammates achieve the amazing marks and times I know they’re capable of,” Sesow said.
McLeod also expressed his opinions on what makes the indoor season so different.
“Indoor I feel is more tactical than outdoor,” McLeod said. “I haven’t raced outdoor yet, but in indoor there are conversions for different sizes of tracks so lots of people will go to smaller tracks to have their times converted to faster times, whereas in outdoor nobody goes to specific tracks for reasons like that.”
In the coming weeks, the track and field team will compete to break personal times and to notch a provisional qualifying mark.
Their next race comes Feb. 17 at the SDSU Last Chance Meet. That next week, Feb. 24-25, the NSIC Indoor Championship will begin in Mankato, Minn.
