The men’s indoor track and field season is set to begin this Friday at Youngstown State University’s YSU Icebreaker Meet. Participants will compete in sprints, hurdles, jumps, pole vault and throws.
A few distance runners will also join the team, while most of the squad stays behind to rest after the cross country season. Members from the multi squad, such as the pentathlon and heptathlon athletes, will travel to Kent State to compete as well. Coming off of last season, in which the men placed third at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, the team hopes to improve. As always, the team will strive to place first at the conference meet.
“We lost some of our leaders from last year but I think we have enough young talent that is quickly maturing to help fill their spots, along with some returners that should be very competitive,” sophomore hurdler Logan Mooney said.
Sophomore Jordan Pacheo, indoor PSAC champion of the pole vault as well as the 10th finisher at the National Championships last year, will return this season in hopes of replicating last year’s performance. Senior Hunter Williams, school record holder of the 400 meter dash as well as the anchor for the school record breaking 4×400 meter relay, will also return this season.
Senior throwers Trevor Miller and Jerrod Galloway, both high scorers for last year’s championship meet, will return with the team this winter. The team has been conditioning for quite some time and held a mock meet called the ‘Green and White’ meet. The coaches split the team in half and held all events on the indoor track for the team to compete with one another.
“The Green and White meet was a fun experience to shake off the rust from last season,” head coach John Papa said. “It gave the new athletes a chance to see how a collegiate track meet is run and let all the athletes be a little competitive with one another.”
The athletes also seemed to enjoy this meet and had a lot of fun with it.
“I think the mock meet helped everyone get used to actually competing again,” Mooney said. “Especially the new guys.”
Slippery Rock will travel to Youngstown State, Edinboro, Erie and Kent State this indoor season for meets. The track athletes have a long season ahead full of great opportunities to achieve their goals and qualify for the PSAC race held in only 85 days on Feb. 28.
The Green and White travels to Youngstown this weekend and will train over winter break and will be prepared to compete at Edinboro University’s Invitational on Jan. 17.
