By Mariah Graves

With the 2019-20 outdoor track season swiftly approaching, this year’s recruiting class for the men’s side is loaded. Junior captain Elijah Morton already believes the team is much more talented than last year and expects a breakthrough.

Indoor Season Highlights:

Morton broke the school record for the 60meter dash during this year’s indoor season. Sophomore Jason White broke the school record for triple jump at the first indoor meet and was placed into the top-10 in the ODAC. Freshman Wilson Jackson III placed first in the 200 meters at Shenandoah’s first home meet. Lastly, Tyler McCarthy came in third of all of Division III in the 3,000 meters.

Last year to this year:

Head Coach Andrew Marrocco, says, “We didn’t lose any talent, we added a couple new freshman that are going to help tremendously.” Freshman Tucker Kindig is learning to throw the javelin to add to his duties with the hammer, weight, and shotput. The team has gained other talented freshman since last year; in every event from throws, to sprints, to distance that have the potential to do well in this upcoming outdoor season.

What to expect:

Senior Justin Meyer, is looking really strong in the steeplechase, sophomore Reed Davis is also having a big breakthrough year on the distance side. Coach Marrocco is hopeful that he will perform in the 5k and 10k this outdoor season.

Morton says, “The men’s team is not only going to have a breakthrough but many records are going to fall.” There are plenty of school records that are accomplishable for this team. All they need to do is have faith in themselves and treat each practice like it’s a track meet. The team is also expected to finish strong at the conference championships (ODACs). Many of the athletes have already pushed themselves into the top-10 list for the ODAC.

Bold Predictions:

Men’s track and field will score top three overall in the ODACs, every team member will be ranked high in the ODAC and the relay teams including the 4×100 and 4×400 meter will perform very well this season.

Photo courtesy of SU Hornets