Rowan track and field took a break from scoring meets over the weekend and competed in the Fastrack Last Chance Invitational.
The meet provided a chance to qualify for those who haven’t already qualified for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) or National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). While head coaches Derick “Ringo” Adamson and Dustin Dimit held some athletes out of events, there was some importance coming out of the meet.
“Nobody moved up on national rankings, we had some people breaking tiebreakers, but our distance medley relay team qualified for ECACs,” Dimit said. “Right now there’s a lot of jockying for position for a better flight.”
In addition to the relay team having success, Harrison Escoffery and Jeffrey Tucker placed first and second respectively in the high jump with a height of 6′ 8.25.”
On the women’s side, Adamson pointed out Jessalyn Wright and Claire Incantalupo as athletes who impressed. Wright ran the 1000 meters in 2:58.48, which broke the school record. Incantalupo ran 2:18.44 in the 800 meters.
This weekend, the men and women’s track teams will travel to Ithaca, New York to take part in the ECAC Championships.
It will be the second time this season that the teams travel to Ithaca.
“Anytime you go overnight and have been to that place already, being on that schedule and not being new, it’s always helpful,” Dimit said. “[The team has] been asking if we’re in the same hotel or if they can go to a certain place to eat like last time.”
Adamson echoed Dimit’s feelings.
“We know the track, we know how to run it, we know how to maneuver ourselves around in there. It’s not like we’re walking in where something is going to hit us with a surprise. That’s a main reason we went up there.”
Last year, the women’s team finished fourth out of the 50 teams at ECAC’s while the men’s team took home first. Despite the different results, both coaches believe that their respective teams will perform well.
“We’re going in to try and win the meet,” Adamson said. “We have a distance medley team we think could advance to the national competition. We’re taking care of that first. We just got to do what we have to do. You can run fast all year long, but if you don’t do it that way, it doesn’t matter.”
Dimit acknowledged how important this weekend is and also said that he believed the team would take first place. With nationals on March 10 and 11, the coach also recognized the bigger picture.
“I expect season bests and hopefully more national qualifiers,” Dimit said. “It kinda comes down to this weekend. We could have three guys or 15 at nationals. The focus now is getting national-level people a chance to push it over the top.”
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