The Benedictine College Track & Field team hosted the first ever Track & Field Week last week.
After finishing indoor season four weeks ago, the team was able to put on this event to raise money and educate the school about what the program is truly about.
Head Coach Je’kel Smith organized this event so more people could participate and watch what the team exactly does.
“A lot of people on campus don’t know much about our sport, so we did a lot of events that educated the student body and the faculty staff,” Smith said.
Each day had different activities for students and faculty to participate in. They have been raising money for a three-week span.
The events included a bingo night on Monday, obstacle challenge on Wednesday, game night in Haverty on Thursday, and an inter-squad meet last weekend.
“The team were very head strong about having an identity and haven’t had it in the past few years. We wanted to breeze the gap between us and the student body. We overall got a good outcome for the inter-squad and happy with a big turnout for all the events,” Smith said.
Their goal has been to be able to host a meet, but due to the regulations of the size of the track, they are not allowed to host events since many athletes would easily qualify for Nationals.
Alex Merrifield, junior, added that the surface is not the best for running and urges that it should be replaced.
“We can’t host meets due to our track not being regulation size along with the poor surface it is. We would love to see it resurfaced for the betterment of our program,” Merrifield said.
The program is the second biggest team on campus, with over 70 participants. They are behind football with over 100 athletes and in front of baseball with 55.
The Track & Field team have a bright future ahead of them. They recently had five NAIA All-Americans at the Indoor National Championships and looking to build up on that for the upcoming outdoor season.
Connor O’Connell, junior, believes this event will have a great impact on the future of the program and will continue this traditiofn.
“I think that we will have another Track week next year and that this will start a tradition for our program. The track future from my perspective looks like great. I believe we can have a great outdoor season and that from the young ones to the old ones on the team, everybody has an impact,” O’Connell said.
The Track & Field team will head to Emporia State and Baker this weekend for their first outdoor meet of the season.
