 "Photo: Nick Chowske")
The Plattsburgh State men’s and women’s indoor track teams worked hard last weekend at the SUNYACs in placing and pushing some runners through to Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships this weekend at Smith College in Northampton, Mass.
The men’s team placed 6th and the women’s placed 7th in the SUNYACs last weekend.
Though it was not the ideal placement for the teams, many runners pulled through and stepped up for the team and themselves.
The strongest runners of the weekend were sophomore Stephanie Braun, who won the 5K and earned a provisional qualifying time for nationals.
Senior Shannon Young won the shot put. Junior Pete Hamm placed second in the long jump and also qualified for nationals, and junior Mike Heymann won the 3K while setting a conference meet record.
“I have hit my qualifying time, and I am sitting fifth on the list for nationals,” Heymann said. “That is my main focus, but I still want to have a good race on Friday to have some momentum going into nationals.”
Though this is primarily a young team, the runners at this point in the competitions are usually the upperclassmen who have a few years experience.
The main challenges they will be facing is the location and the increased competition.
“We have never run at Smith College,” Head Coach John Lynch said. “So a new environment is a challenge within itself.”
For this weekend’s events, the next goal is to get momentum and motivation moving into the outdoor season.
Other members of the teams competing in the ECAC championships are Holly Black in the Pentathlon, Colleen Coon and Colleen Cotey in the 3,000-meter.
Young will be trying her luck in ECACs this weekend in the shot put.
“I am preparing to take over the record by working hard and trying to perfect my glide as much as possible,” she said. “This (was) a crucial week of practice because it is important that every aspect of my throw works simultaneously and clicks.”
As for the runners who have not qualified for ECACs or nationals, this has been a recovery week and their training has begun to transition into the outdoor season.
The first outdoor meet is the weekend after spring break.
“Our problem during the indoor season is our lack of depth,” Lynch said. “When we get to the higher competition and run our best runners, we tend to do better.”
For a lot of competitors, this weekend is the last chance to qualify for Nationals.
Braun and Hamm both need to place this weekend in order to confirm their National spots.
During the ECACs, placing ahead of other SUNYAC teams may help pride, but the best competitors are going to be coming from MIT, Springfield and Tufts.
This weekend also presents the opportunity for competitors to break some records.
The men’s DMR team is trying to break the schools record which was last set in 2006.
Young is trying to set the record for the shot put — she is about two inches from the school’s current record.
“If we perform well individually, we perform well as a team,” Lynch said.
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