At the conference championship last weekend, the distance medley relay team set a meet and school record while a second individual runner placed second in the 800 meter run.
Koby Styles, head track coach, said “We were just waiting for a meet like that to happen. This team runs so well off of confidence and when they have great work-outs leading up to a race and when they are feeling really good they run well.”
The track team competed in seven events at the Lone Star Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Texas Tech Athletic Training Center in Lubbock March 1 and 2.
After a disappointing end to the cross-country season last year, head coach Koby Styles said he believes that disappointment will motivated the team to do well in the indoor championships.
“They came back from Christmas break a little bit more fired up and wanting to prove to everybody that they are the best team in the conference,” Styles said. The team has won a regional championship before and the seniors were able to get over the loss in cross-country to re-focus for the indoor and outdoor track season.
2014 presents a clean slate for the track team. Once the seniors graduate there will not be member on the team that has won a conference or regional championship. Styles said, “That team is going to be hungry to get one and they don’t want to be known as the team that never got one.”
For Janel Campbell, senior in nursing, this was her final indoor meet. She said that going into this weekend is bittersweet, but she is still focused on hitting her goals at the championship.
“I feel like we’re peaking at the right time this season. A couple weeks ago we had a really great meet,” Campbell said. “All of us PR’d (personal record) so hopefully we can bring those times into this weekend and be faster.”
Running indoors presents a different set of challenges for the cross-country-focused team, but Styles said that can benefit them as well. “You don’t always go faster outdoors. Mother-nature and the elements are working against you like with the wind and rain,” Styles said. “With indoor you don’t have any of that.”
Campbell said she is excited about running indoors. “It’s actually really nice because you don’t have to fight with the wind and the rain or all the inclement of the weather. You feel a lot faster.”
Friday morning the track team ran at six in the morning like they have all year to help recover from the intense practices leading up to the indoor championship.
Gabby Ruiz, junior in nursing, said, “Everyone has been running really fast the last two weeks. We’ve really been coming together just in time, so I think everyone will show up and run really good. I expect everybody to show how good they are.”
The team placed seventh and almost doubled their point total from last year with 41 points. At the conference championship level this is the best indoor meet MSU has ever had. Cristina Alcantar, Ana Lopez, C.J. Frizzell, and Ashley Flores had run as a group in the distance medley relay only once before. Styles said that while they didn’t have the fastest times going into the race they knew they had the best team. The team had been mixing in different people until they found the right combination for the distance medley relay.
Going into the outdoor season the training for the track team is going to get harder. In outdoor the distance medley relay and the 3k meter run are taken away. Replaced by the staple-chase and the 10k which is a six-mile race. Many of the women on the team will start running longer distances than they did in the indoor.
Styles said, “Doing that well in the indoor championships and grinding it out in the winter months sets the team up to be ready for harder challenges. When outdoor meets start up hopefully we can win more gold medals. Gold looks a lot better than silver or bronze.”
Indoor Championship Results
Saturday
- Distance Relay Gold: Cristina Alcantar, Ana Lopez, C.J. Frizzell, Ashley Flores Meet/School Record of 12:06.75
- 5000 Meter Run: Second Place Gabby Ruiz School Record of 18:00.76, Eighth Place Abigail Gonzalez, Ninth Place Michelle Krezonoski, 11th Place Brittany Adams, 14th Place Kim Krezonoski, 16th Place Maira Salinas, 19th Place Cara Mack, 20th Place Lucia Trej
Sunday
- 800 Meter Run: Third Place Ana Lopez School Record of 2:15.42
- One Mile Run: Third Place Ashley Flores, Fourth Place Cristina Alcantar,
- 3000 Meter Run: Fourth Place Gabby Ruiz, 11th Place Janel Campbell, 12th Place Abigail Gonzalez, 13th Place Kim Krezonoski, 14th Place Michelle Krezonoski, 16th Place Melody Caldwell, 17th Place Brittany Adams, 21st Place Maira Salinas, 23rd Place Danielle Chavarria, 27th Place Cara Mack, DNF Emma Ramirez
- 4X400 Relay: Ninth Place C.J. Frizzell, Maranda Rodriguez, Ana Lopez, Ashley Flores School Record of 4:06.43
400 Meter Dash C.J. Frizzell School Record of 1:00.25