By Thomas Brown
Contributor
The Seton Hill men’s and women’s track teams are off to a strong start as they gear up for the rest of the season according to head coach Tim Creamer. Under the guidance Creamer, both teams are poised to contend for conference championships.
“We started off strong and put ourselves in a good position to be recognized as one of the top teams in the conference,” said Creamer.
During their spring break trip to the Coastal Carolina Invitational, the team set six school records and had over 20 qualifiers for conferences between men and women. There were also two men and one woman who achieved NCAA Division II provisional qualifying marks during the invitational: sophomore Calsie Boyd in the high jump, red-shirt freshman Tyler McIntosh in the high jump and freshman Duane Parker in the triple jump. Despite this early success, however, Creamer remains guarded, saying “We can’t settle for just doing well in one meet, but have to strive to get better every meet so we can get conference championships on both the men’s and women’s side.”
On the men’s side, talent abounds with standouts like senior Josh Wilks, a two time All-American in the 800m and junior Sean Randall who runs the 200m, 400m and both the 4×100 and 4x400m relays.
Additionally, Duane Parker (200m, 400m, long jump, triple jump), red-shirt freshman Jonathan Feagin (100m, 200m) and junior Nick Spino (110 and 400m hurdles) all show great promise for this season according to Creamer.
For the women, sophomore Chelsea Cavanaugh is expected to make strong showings in the 200m, 400m, and the 4×100 and 4x400m relays, as well as senior Stephanie Isacco in the 400m and 800m and senior Olivia Richardson in the 100m and 200m. In the field, junior Amanda Ponsonby (pole vault) and Calsie Boyd (long, triple and high jump) are poised to be strong contenders in the conference.
With most of their season still to come, the mood is positive among the athletes. Junior Sean Randall said, “We should have a good season. There have been a couple of injuries, but as long as everyone stays healthy and we work hard we should have a good shot at the championship.” Although Creamer is self-admittedly “not a big prediction guy,” he seems to share this optimistic sentiment. “I just hope we keep improving and getting better week to week, and keep adding names to the national qualifying list.”