The track and field team's road to nationals
“I think this season was business as usual. We had to put up with some challenges, but in terms of performance, it was pretty much normal,” Coach James Carter said. Photo courtesy of Danny Smith.
By Emmett Roman
Staff Reporter
Nothing is more challenging than starting a new athletic season without your head coach. With Head Coach James Robinson out this season due to retirement and questions on who will lead the team. “What we did was have a big meeting back in January on how we were going to approach this,” Carter said. “Basically, I put the training schedule together and Danny and Meredith were doing a lot of the administrative work.”
However, this setback did not hinder the team's success, as they made it to nationals, competing against Division I schools as a Division II school.
But nationals did not go as planned for the team, as the weather had other plans. “I’ve been going to track meets for over 60 years either as a runner or coach, and environmentally wise this is the worst one I’ve ever been to,” Carter stated. “Every day the temperatures were in the high 90s, it was sunny, it was windy and there was a lot of dust in the air.” All these factors played into the team's performance at nationals, as Michigan runners are not accustomed to these weather conditions. According to Carter, if runners cannot cool their bodies properly due to outside conditions, then it makes it impossible for the runners to keep up with their performance.
Despite this, a couple of members had personal bests and proved the college's talent. “Some of our team qualified directly for nationals,” Carter said. “That said, I think for a D2 school, we probably had the greatest number of athletes there.”
The most standout player was Nate Carmody. Carmody broke the school’s record for the 5000 meters. Some other standout players were Shaelyn Schwem and Quaid Schimetz. Schwem placed 11th in shotput and got two new personal bests at the national meet. Schimetz not only placed 12th in the men's 3000-meter steeplechase, but he also shaved a minute off his steeplechase time.
“Faith Swenor was a strong leader for the women’s team throughout the year,” Cahill furthered. “And Lucas Hopkins had an outstanding season, qualifying for nationals in both the 800m and 1500m.”
The coaches are looking forward to the cross country season this fall. “We’re going to have a challenge this year because most of our top runners are moving on,” Carter commented. “Now, that said, I think we’re looking forward to it because we’ve got a couple of really self-motivated runners that are still here from last year.”
There is a new job posting up to fill Head Coach Robinson’s vacant position. “We have definitely missed Coach Robinson and all of the experience, leadership, and culture of respect and hard work that he brought to the team,” Cahill said. “As a coaching staff, we have done our best to continue building on the foundation and legacy he created for the program.”
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