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Track and Field:
Saints shine in Southern Region showdown
The Advocate
It was a good weekend for the Saints track and field teams at the Southern Region Championships as the women placed first and the men finished second.
According to Head Coach Matt Hart, his team members “always shine when it’s time to shine.”
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The women ended the meet with 220.5 points, two and a half points ahead of the Lane Community College Titans.
Hart couldn’t stop giving praise to the women for their team effort, emphasizing that it’s not about the individuals. He said it came down to teamwork, especially into the final two events, the 4x400-meter relay and the shot put.
“It was a huge team effort,” said Hart. “It came down to two events and we excelled and got the victory. Sophomore Chelsey Ramos PR’d (personal record) in the shot put 11.95 meters, good for fourth place) and put us in great position to win the women’s Southern Region. It came down to our team performing as a whole.”
The women finished the meet with a victory in the 4x400-meter relay in a time of 4:02.83.
It wasn’t all fun and games for sophomore Terra Schumacher, who came into the meet as the pole vaulter to beat, but didn’t even place in her best event. According to Hart, it should have been an easy eight or 10 points for the women.
“To tell you the truth, I wasn’t around on this one occasion during the pole vaulting. I was a bit stressed out when I heard about what happened with her not placing,” Hart said. “I assumed we wouldn’t have won without her points in the vault but it worked out.”
The story of the day was the Sims sisters, Catherine and Crystal, who together earned a total of 108 points, tying the third place Clark Community College Penguins by themselves.
“I think after Amber Glunt (former Saint runner) left last year, she really set the bar for the women athletes. The Sims sisters blew up the competition.”
Each of the sisters competed in eight events. The younger sister, Catherine Sims, recorded five first-place finishes: the 100-meter dash (12.91); the 200-meter dash (25.42); the 400-meter run (57.45) which was a PR better than two seconds; the 4x100-meter relay (48.37); and the 4x400-meter relay.
Older sister Crystal Sims finished with six top-three spots: second in the 100-meter dash (12.95); second in the 200-meter dash (25.98); second in the 400-meter run (57.64); third in the 100-meter hurdles (15.84); and she was apart of the 4x100-meter relay and 4x400-meter relay.
The men finished second with 130 points behind the Lane Community College Titans, who accumulated 317 points.
“We had some really good performances by the men,” said Hart. “It was a surprise to them that they finished so well and got second place. All our coaches worked so hard to put them in a position to have success.”
Freshman JR Velasquez was the only first-place finisher for the men’s team in the shot put where he finished with a throw of 14.98 meters.
Nathan Hope, Matt Romey and Brian Howelton finished with second-place in their events. Hope finished with a time of 49.41 in the 400-meter run; Romey finished with a time of 1:55.22 in the 800-meter run; and Howelton ran the 400-meter hurdles (56.04).
The Saints are competing in this year’s NWAACC Championships in Spokane, Wash., May 21 and 22 at the Community Colleges of Spokane.
All week the team has been working on their cardio and letting their bodies relax in preparation for this year’s NWAACCs, including time in the MHCC swimming pool.
“We are so blessed to have the facilities that we have here at MHCC,” said Hart.