With two defending NWAACC champions and 11 capable athletes on the team this season, head coach Tony Baracco thinks the MHCC men’s and women’s track and field squad has the ability to become a “quality” force.

Jessie Gallaher, an NWAACC champion pole-vaulter with a winning jump of 11 feet, seven inches, and NWAACC shot-put title defender Tyler Hartsteen, with a champion throw of 49 feet, 11 inches, will be the main leaders on a talented Saints track and field team this year. According to Baracco, other leaders for the women’s team will be Brittany Grizzard with sprints, DeDe Sonis with hurdles and Michel Wilson with distance running.

The key leaders for the men will be Branden Bruce with sprints and hurdles, Tim Bertram, Joe Staub and Jeremiah Drelleshak with throws, Vase Georgiev with jumps and sprints, Caleb Falconer with jumps, and Alex Dominguez-Morales with distance running.

“Our season looks good because it seems like we are improving,” said Baracco. “We have quality people and we’ve gained a lot in numbers. Since the NWAACC tournament last year, the group we took with us has doubled in number.”

Because of the high number of participants in track and field this season, Baracco is shooting for a goal of at least 40 competitors. As of Thursday, 30 athletes including runners competing in 10 different events, jumpers including long jumpers, triple jumpers, high jumpers and pole vaulters, and javelin throwers, hammer-throwers, shot-putters and discus hurlers, had joined the team already.

Last season, the team finished with eight All-Americans, two school records, three Southern Region champions, and two NWAACC champions. Baracco hopes to repeat these accomplishments.

“My goals for the track team are the same as they were for the cross country team. They are to grow as a team and improve on our performances,” he said.

For the last four to five months, the track and field team members have been preparing for the season by practicing consistently, beginning with a track conditioning class that was taken during the fall term. The team continued their conditioning during the winter by participating in an indoor meet in February.

On Saturday, the teams will compete at the Linfield Icebreaker, a tournament held in McMinnville. Baracco wants the competition to be a stepping-stone for the beginning of a successful season.

“We want to get this meet under our belts and just see where we’re at as a team,” he said. “We want to get back into competition now, because in April, we will have our big meets and that is when we want to really make it happen.”

The teams will have their first home meet of the season next weekend, Friday, March 11 and Saturday, March 12, at the Mt. Hood Open. The meet will host 12 other schools including Oregon State University, who will be attending their first track meet in over 18 years, due to a discontinuation of their track and field program.

“This is a piece of college track history. We are honored to get the privilege of hosting them for the first time in so long,” said Baracco. “I think it will be a really great meet.”