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After winning the All-Atlantic Regional Track & Field Championships this weekend, the teams season-long goal of winning the NCAA Division III Championships is that much closer.
Not only did Rowan jump to first place in the US Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Atlantic Region and 25th in the Nation, they also qualified for Nationals in five different categories.
Sophomore and current NJAC Athlete of the Week Ahmir Johnson will compete in the triple jump.
Junior Frankie Richard and sophomore Rakim Coyle will compete in the long jump, freshmen Jake Kolodziej and Jah’mere Beasley in the 4×400 meter run with juniors Justin Bishop and Francis Terry.
And juniors Vincent Delle and Nick Neville will run in the distance medley relay with freshman Joe DeVito and sophomore Kevin Lauer.
Confidence is key when performing on a stage like this but Coyle feels like that’s the last thing he and his teammates are lacking.
“I feel very confident in my teammate’s abilities,” Coyle said. “We all are great athletes, we all work hard at practice, and we all do the little things to make ourselves better. I firmly believe we can do something big at nationals and score some points on the board.”
Being the number one seed in the region you would think that this team has some added pressure, but Head Coach Dustin Dimit doesn’t feel that way.
“There isn’t pressure. We expect to be number one in the region,” Dimit said. “We’ve done that for the past couple years. Our goal is to make sure training is set up in a way to do our best in the end and that way we have our best chance possible to do well as a team at nationals.”
Everyone that qualified for nationals hit their best mark at the Regional Championship and will need to put forth another great performance this weekend.
All the hard work throughout the season comes down to this.
Nationals will take place this Friday and Saturday at JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, NC.
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