The Observer sat down with senior track and field captain Isaac Smith to discuss the end of the season and conference hopes.
1. How do you feel about the team’s season so far?
“The season has been awesome so far. Both individuals and the team are surpassing expectations and competing at a very high level. As a team, we have been among the top finishers at every meet so far and that’s been very exciting.”
2. What have been the best accomplishments in the past for the team?
“It’s hard to say with such a historically strong team. I would say one notable highlight was last year’s team being both indoor and outdoor conference champions.”
3. Do you think any of those accomplishments will carry over to this year?
“Absolutely. Our team is driven by the history we have, as well as by the potential we see in each other. Knowing what our team has done in the past motivates us for this year looking towards the end of the season.”
4. What are you excited about this year’s team?
“I am really looking forward to conference and the outdoor national meet. It’s looking like we will have a number of qualifiers for outdoor nationals, so I am excited to see everyone perform at that level.”
5. What do you hope to accomplish this year as a team?
“I would say most notably we aim to compete for the conference title and to qualify as many people and events as we can for outdoor nationals.”
6. How are you preparing in order to accomplish the team’s goals?
“We prepare by practicing hard and using early season meets as a way to make sure everyone is ready for conference. After that, the focus shifts towards individuals a bit more and different events focus on what they need to do in order to qualify.”
7. What are the team’s greatest strengths?
“Right now, I would say our biggest strengths are our ability to keep high energy and perform when the demand is there. As far as events, we have a lot of really strong points, notably Markus Simmons in the throws and Tanner Osing in our distance program.”
8. How do you think the team will do in conference?
“I think our team will do outstanding at conference. We always have a strong outdoor presence and we train to perform at the conference meet. We all have high hopes going into it.”