{{tncms-inline content=”<p><span>“We look at success in a couple different ways, if we can see consistently that our athletes are setting personal bests and not taking steps backwards, then that’s a key for success for us at this point.” -Cameron Babb</span></p>” id=”081c69ec-ff9d-470b-b95f-2cf8022863d8″ style-type=”quote” title=”Babb Pull Quote” type=”relcontent”}}

Despite the cold weather, the Washburn track and field team were able to come back from spring break and give a pretty solid performance at the Emporia State University meet that was held over the weekend.

Although originally planning to compete in the four by four competition, mother nature had other plans with the weather getting colder as the weekend went on. This caused some extra wear and tear on the athletes and ultimately led to the coaches to make a decision to keep the competition limited to Saturday only, opting them out of the four by four.

“No big surprises [from performances at the meet] but we continue to have some of our really top athletes perform well and have the team set new personal and school bests,” head coach Cameron Babb said.

This is Babb’s third year at Washburn, spending his first year recruiting and trying to build a solid program.

“It’s definitely harder [being a new program] since these kids came in not knowing what was going to happen and not having upperclassmen showing them the ropes, leaving them to build the program from the ground up,” Babb said.

Just over the weekend, there were 27 new personal records, two overall event winners and a new school record set. Standout athletes include: Sierra Mortensen and Jacob Klemz, both taking first in the 1500m run. Shelby Edwards showed out, throwing 41.42/135-11 and being the first member of the women’s track team to reach a provisional mark set by the NCAA. This throw also happened to beat the 1980 school record for javelin.

“We look at success in a couple different ways, if we can see consistently that our athletes are setting personal bests and not taking steps backwards, then that’s a key for success for us at this point,” Babb said.

“Outdoor season in Kansas can be hit and miss at best. We’ve already had two meets of pretty poor weather. There’s other options we could go to, like we could take a longer trip down to Canyon, Texas where it looks like it’ll be 70-80 degrees down there. It could be a better opportunity for our kids to perform well,” Babb said.

They will play the next competition by ear, deciding on a plan early in the week.

The schedule next places the Ichabods to compete in Maryville, Missouri for the April 5-7 meet, but the coaches are keeping their options open to give their athletes the best chance at success. Decisions on the next competition will determined early on this week.