The Houghton Highlanders Indoor Track and Field teams will compete in the Empire 8 conference championships tomorrow at Utica College. Outcomes of the meet will determine eligibility for competition in the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) indoor track and field championships.
“Right now, we plan to have 9 women and 7 men competing [at the NCCAA championships],” said head track and field coach, Patrick Hager. According to athletic director, Harold “Skip” Lord, track and field athletes must place in the top six of their event at the Empire 8 championships, or the top four in relay events, to participate in the national championships. In addition, athletes must meet NCCAA qualifying standards.
The team is in high spirits going into the meet, according to team chaplain Melissa Bell ‘17. Bell commented, “This past week we had about 90% of the team [reach personal bests], and hitting that again or surpassing that would be an awesome way to send the team into nationals.” Kasey Cannister ‘17, one of the women’s team captains, concurred. She stated, “Our meet this past weekend, really demonstrated how strong we are becoming with so many personal records occurring.”
Bell also noted men’s pole vaulter Leland Roberts ‘19 is currently ranked first in the conference. “It would be a huge win if he could onto that spot,” she said. Roberts broke the Highlander record in men’s pole vault earlier this season with a vault of 4.42 meters. He held the previous record as well.
Sprinter and long jumper Malik Bullock ‘19 said, “I’m really excited to see the men’s and women’s distance medley relays. Coach [Hager] has put together a solid set of athletes.” He continued, “I’m also interested in the men’s 4×200 relay because we competed all day [before running the relay] at Ithaca and did pretty well, so it’ll be interesting to see what we can do well rested and eager to compete.”
Hager remarked, “Our men’s team is quite improved from previous years. In my first two years, we really had nobody who could score in the top 6 in the conference, Indoors. This year, we have several, and even broke the 4 x 200m school record. It’s really nice to have depth and ‘options’ on the men’s side.”
The women’s team features Rebekah White ‘18 and Nikki Garns ‘17, two returning members of the 4×800 relay team who received All-American honors last year at the NCCAA nationals. Garns and white will be “key runners” at this weekend’s meet according to Cannister. Garns will race in the 60 meter dash and 200 meter run, and White will race in the 800 meter run.
Cannister noted, “In our field events, we expect strong performances in High Jump, Pole Vault, and Long Jump by Gwen Stokes ‘20, Fiona Daloia ‘17, and Kalei Brautlacht ‘20, respectively.”
White, Garns, and Daloia “continue to be athletes who compete at a high level” said Hager. He continued, “On both teams we have several young athletes who have worked hard to develop a strong team culture. This type of culture will really help us improve and take steps forward as a team.”
The NCCAA nationals will be held at the Kerr-Pegula Field House on February 17-18. Since Houghton athletes will not incur extra costs from travel, hotels, and other incidental expenses, Lord stated that it may be possible for an athlete to use one of the NCCAA-permitted “at-large” bids. This would occur if an athlete has NCCAA qualifying marks but does not place high enough in his or her event at tomorrow’s meet.
“While some will continue on to the National Championship, this is the last meet of our indoor season for many members of our team,” Cannister said. “We strive to end our season with our best performances. We definitely anticipate and expect to see many personal records across our whole team.”