The track team finished in sixth place overall as its indoor season came to a close last weekend at the OVC Indoor Track Championships hosted by Tennessee State.
While the sixth-place finish is satisfactory for Head Coach Jenny Severns, she couldn’t help but admit it left a bit of a sour taste.
“Some people had good days, some people had not so good days,” Severns said. “That’s just the nature of track. If we could have come out with fourth I would have been happy, but coming in sixth just leaves me a little hungry.”
Severns was adamant, however, that she was pleased with the team’s performance.
“I don’t want to make it sound like it was terrible, because it wasn’t,” Severns said. “It’s just that we want more.”
One of the shining performances for the Racers was sophomore Emma Gilmore, who took home three medals. She finished in third place in both the 800-meter and 1-mile runs, as well as breaking the school record and finishing second in the distance medley relay with a time of 12:07.03.
Joining Gilmore on the record-breaking DMR team were junior Brittany Bohn, sophomore Alicyn Hester and freshman Taylor Adcock.
“That was a big one for us,” Gilmore said. “We knew we could have won. We came very close to winning, but it was kind of like a bonus when we finished and found out we broke the record. It was very exciting.”
Severns praised Gilmore’s effort for the team, saying it was very impressive.
“The most impressive thing for Emma was that she could have just done the 800 and not ran the mile, but she decided to go for both and try to get more points for the team,” she said.
Other outstanding performances for the Racers included junior Ashley Conway’s second-place finish in the pentathlon, sophomore Kiara Austin’s fourth-place finish in the triple jump, senior Katie Forshey’s fourth-place finish in the high jump and Hester’s fourth-place finish in the mile.
“Those kinds of performances are what makes you super excited,” Severns said.
Gilmore said the Racers are not content, however, with their performance this weekend as they look forward to the outdoor season. She said their goals going forward include personal records and individual accomplishments, but the team has its sights set on the illusive team victory.
“We expect some wins,” Gilmore said. “We were close last year and tasted gold but just missed out. We have some records and goals that we have our eye on, but most of all we just really want to win.”
With the talent of this Racers team, Severns said she is not worried about the competition.
“We can’t control what the other teams do, we can only go out there and give it 100 percent,” she said. “As long as we do that we can walk away happy. Our team has a lot of talent and so if that happens, the chances of us coming out on top are pretty good.”
The track team is back in action March 20th as it kick off the outdoor season at the Shamrock Invitational hosted by Coastal Carolina.
Story by Peter Northcutt, Contributing writer