Big goals for Track & Field in prep for Big South Conference Tournament
Manika Gamble, member of the HPU Track & Field Team, was the Big South’s Indoor Track and Field Freshman of the Year in 2008-09.
By Joseph Wetzler
The main focus of the men and women’s track and field team at High Point University has been the Big South Conference Championship, taking place on February 24 and 25 at Virginia Tech.
Every school in the Big South Conference competes in this event and HPU’s goal is to compete against its conference opponents.
For the time being, the team is concentrating on training hard to prepare for the upcoming championships.
Manika Gamble, the Big South’s Indoor Track and Field Freshman of the Year in 2008-09, has focused on improving her performance this season, while sophomore Evan Emery looks to break the school’s 60-meter dash record.
Gamble currently leads the women’s 4 by 400 team, which is determined to place into the faster heat for the upcoming conference championship.
“If we don’t run the 4 by 400 before the conference championship we will have to start in the slower heat,” Gamble said, “That makes it tougher to place into the faster heat at the Championships.”
Emery, an all-Big South sprinter a year ago, ran a school best 22.1-second 200-meter dash at the Virginia Tech Invitational. Emery is looking to break another school record this season. When asked about his expectations for the rest of the season, Emery said he anticipates breaking the school’s 60-meter dash record.
“While I look to improve on my 200 time, I’m very focused on breaking the 60 record” Emery said.
Head coach Mike Esposito anticipates big things from his team this season, expecting both the men and the women to place in the top 3 at the conference championships, just three weeks away.
Thus far, Esposito has been very impressed with the men and women sprinters, hurdlers, and middle distance freshmen.
“With the distance runners coming around after finishing second in the cross country championship, we feel confident of achieving our goals at the indoor championships,” he said.
While the members of the men and women’s teams are working hard on the track, they are working equally as hard, off of it. Gamble said that the team’s goals for the season are to not only to be in the top three in the conference, but also to have a 3.0 team GPA.
So far, the team has exceeded that.
Track and Field will have its work cut out for them if it wants to achieve its season goals. Gamble said if they keep up the hard work and dedication to getting better everyday, the teams would be a big factor at the upcoming Big South Conference Championship.