Matt Csakai | Echo
The track and field teams are in the flow of things now after several cancellations earlier in the season.
The Hillsdale Invitational on April 27 and 28 went well for both teams, with the men's team having a couple of top ten finishes on the first day, with sophomore Hunter Smith finishing sixth in the open finals and sophomore Drew LeFever also finishing in the top ten in the shot put.
The team finished ninth out of 33 teams in total on the second day. Anthony led the way with a time of 14.62 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles, which currently stands as the 13th-fastest time in the nation.
The women's team had three top ten finishes on the first day of the meet. Senior Alex Berends and junior Mae Elizabeth Gimre finished 6th and 8th, respectively, in the 3,000-meter race, with times of 10:59.01 and 11:20.33, respectively.
The teams have two meets left before members from both the men's and women's teams will go to NAIA Nationals.
"The toughest part is staying healthy and mentally prepared; we're gone for two days this weekend," said sophomore Caleb Anthony. "Most of us have a lot of projects to think about, too, with it getting into crunch time in the semester."
Weather should no longer be a factor in most of the meets moving forward. While the indoor season ended in March, the weather would not cooperate with the spring schedule.
According to Anthony, their spring break meet was canceled due to snow and was a major surprise.
"We've missed three meets this season; one because of snow, (for) the (other), it was in the 40s and rainy, and we determined that it just wasn't safe," said interim head coach Ted Bowers. "It's hard to assess where we're at physically if we're not racing."
But, despite these setbacks, the teams have worked hard to get to the extremely competitive point that they are at.
The next meet for the Trojans is the Crossroads League Championship, which is taking place in Indianapolis on May 3 and 4.
"Photograph by Brad Timmerman"
