This past Saturday, while the majority of the student body dressed up in flair and skied at Crested Butte, the Tigers hosted their only home track meet of the season against UCCS, two competitive running clubs, and a handful of unattached local runners.
With the sun shining and funky tunes blasting from the field’s speakers, the track meet was both fun and successful for the team.
Head sprint coach, Dustin Trujillo, was impressed with his runners’ results. “For me, the exciting part of track and field has always been watching athletes push their own limitations, physically and mentally,” Trujillo said.
According to Trujillo, athletes ran faster than they thought they could, flew further than they have this season, and even ran in events they didn’t think they could mentally handle. “I know that each of our sprinters pushed their limits on that beautiful Saturday afternoon,” he said. “For proof, just go around back of the track shed, and you may see some leftover vomit.”
Perseverance was definitely a recurring theme during the meet. “Take a look at all the tape around freshman Robin Li’s shins as he flies through the air during the long jump,” Trujillo said. “Or perhaps ask freshman Sean Fite how he is doing right before he collapses on the track, having just run a season best time during the 400 meter dash.”
Another stellar freshman performance came from Justin Nguyen, who ran a personal record in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.73 seconds. Nguyen also crushed the 100-meter dash, with a winning time of 11.97 seconds. “My mom, dad, and sister drove from New Mexico to see me race,” Nguyen said. “There’s no better feeling than running a PR in front of your family.”
Some more exciting races included sophomore Conor Terhune winning the 400 meter hurdles with a personal record of 1:05.36, junior Ethan Holland’s personal record of 52.15 seconds in the open 400, landing him fifth place overall, and the boy’s 4×400 meter relay, where they clinched third place with a time of 3:40.42.
Freshman Gabe Fine, who usually runs the 4×400, but was out due to a strained achilles, watched this event, couldn’t help but wish he was on the track. “Seeing the guys run such solid 400s made me want to run in the relay so badly,” Fine said. “But it was awesome to see them run their hearts out. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Fine is not the only injured runner. In fact, almost half of the sprinters are injured currently. According to Trujillo, the coaches develop the training plan for the entire season before the season even begins so that when the important meets come around, like conference and nationals, the coaches know how to taper their athletes to reach their “peak” performance at each of these meets. “However, when injuries occur, the ‘peak’ time frame changes,” Trujillo said. “Excellent workout plans have a harmonious balance of theory and applied exercise science.”
Overall, the men’s track team is doing great this season. The times the runners are hitting are faster than the times from this point last season, and many runners are gearing up for their performances at conference in just a few weeks.
Their next meet is at CU Boulder on Saturday, April 11. Though no meet can compare to the “house party” home meet, according to Trujillo, the Tigers will look to emulate this past weekend’s energy and effort moving forward.