Men’s Track and Field Off to a Strong Start in March

Jocelyn Visnov Editor-in-Chief

Jaspers track and field wasted no time getting their season started this Spring. During March, the team traveled down south to Jacksonville Fl., and Raleigh N.C., bringing home a first-place win and several personal bests for the athletes.

The team attended the River City Spring Break Classic meet in Jacksonville on March 17 and 18. During the meet, senior sprinter Noah Jefferson finished seventh in the 100m with a 10.95, only one-hun- dredth of a second off sixth place.

“That was my first open race this season,” Jefferson said. “The whole trip was great, the weather was amazing, and I ran decently well. It was a PR for my season from last year, so I can be happy about that.”

Jefferson also saw success in the men’s 4x400 relay where he competed alongside Andrew Simard, Johnelle Joe and Harrison Alonzo. The team finished at 3:16.60 to receive first place by three-tenths of a second.

That weekend, Simard and Alonzo both also competed in the 400m sprint, with Simard coming in at 10th and Alonzo finishing in 15th.

Simard, a freshman athlete who came to MC from Manitoba, Canada to be on the track team, explained he was very happy to begin his first season competing alongside his teammates.

“I’ve been able to compete with the highest level athletes, and that’s kind of what I came here to do,” Simard said. “I’ve been really enjoying the season. I have a lot of friends on the team and training has been awesome, I’ve been loving the coaches. But I’d say what I’m really looking forward to is the Penn relays coming up. It’s a really really big meet. I think a lot of guys are really looking forward to it. We’ve got a four by four that’s gonna be competing there and a four by eight that’s gonna be competing there.

The team continued their March races down south at the Raleigh Relays.

For individual successes on the men’s team, junior thrower RJ Decker finished seventh in the hammer throw with a top throw of 62.31m. Junior Joseph Pelio also competed in the event, coming in 30th with a top mark of 49.86.

Jefferson continued to thrive, receiving 20th in the 400m with a time of 48.4. Brian Shemar Saul (49.98) and Harrison Alonzo (50.16) also ran in the event. In addition, Kaya Simpson ran the 110 hurdles in 11.23 seconds.

“I think we’re really building a good season,” Jefferson said. “I think we’re giving ourselves a chance to really do some damage in the MAC.”

Jefferson also mentioned he would be continuing his track and field career with the Jaspers for his 5th year on the team while receiving his master’s in Organizational Leadership.

According to GoJaspers. com, Director of Track and Field Kerri Gallagher was very pleased with the team’s performance.

“I’m very happy with the results from both meets,” Gallagher said. “We saw some event wins, personal bests, and a lot of areas of improvement that we can capitalize on over the next few weeks.”