For the third week in a row the Washburn men and women’s track teams met in the new indoor athletic facility accompanied by many other college teams on Friday Jan 29th. The event that took place on Friday was a massive success for athletes. As of Wednesday, 769 students from all over were scheduled for the second meet with a total of 1218 entries for the two-day event.
The day started out with a pentathlon as athletes showed their skills during the multi events, making for a strong display to witness as the colleges gathered to compete and display their skills.
The women’s track team also had an impressive performance, tailing 15 top-10 finishes along with two NCAA provisional marks with a new school record. Lily Johnson finished second in the 800m run, breaking her school record during the event with a time of 2:19.46.
In the women’s pole vault, Virgi Scardanzan has been practicing her skills and it’s paying off. She placed second in the pole vault recording a NCAA provisional mark and an indoor personal best with a mark of 12.992 feet. Taylor Grasser, a freshman who performs in multi, was interviewed to give insight to the Washburn community about her experience and time that Friday.
Taylor said, “I’m doing good so far. This is my first multi meet at the collegiate level, so I was super nervous in the beginning but we’re getting through it.”
Taylor wanted to give some words to Washburn students since there are still no audiences allowed, she said, “I wish everyone could come in and support and be out here it’s kind of hard without spectators, but we make do. I think it would help calm nerves knowing that more of my teammates could be here with me.”
Women’s track had a good outcome for Washburn and men’s track wasn’t short of achievements either. The Washburn Ichabod’s snapped two school records adding 20 top 10 finishes with 12 personal records and two more NCAA provisional marks.
Michael Pearl is a senior at Washburn who performs in heptathlon. He had many performances that day and was able to give his insight on how it went for him in an interview later that day.
“I think it went well for the first multi meet, definitely a lot of things to work on but it’s still a new facility,” said Pearl. “I want to improve on long jumps, high jumps and just staying healthy.” Michael’s words of inspiration for all the Washburn readers were “go bods!”
The student athletes who perform in the indoor athletic facility aren’t slowing down with their success. As the track and field season continues, we get to experience more of what the Washburn Ichabod’s have to offer. We’re cheering the athletes on from afar until we can be there in the stadium with them.
Edited by: Matthew L. Self,