With the warm weather returning, the track and field team are starting their outdoor season.

The Pioneers have one home meet every season which also happens to be the first outdoor meet of the year. It was a two-day event on April 16-17, with two events on Friday night and a full day of events on Saturday.

With the opportunity of a home event, the coaches and team were excited for the ability to be

comfortable and close to home.

Head Track and Field coach, Chris Rotzenberg was excited for the opportunity to stay at home for the meet because he knew it would be emotionally charging for all the athletes.

“When you start to prepare for an outdoor meet, you look primarily at the weather and how that will affect your workouts and the meet,” Rotzenberg said.

Rotzenberg and the groups tapered their workouts throughout the week. The week of the meet, athletes will have smaller workouts, giving them the best possible outcome when it comes to them competing in their events.

Every year, Rotzenberg looks forward to seeing the top 10 schools in Division III return to campus. He understands that the competition is what matters for the athletes.

“Being at home with the athletes that come here is a tremendous advantage,” Rotzenberg said.  “The way our athletes competed against the schools that came is very admirable.”

More and more records are being broken with every upcoming meet. Amber Williams again broke another school record by jumping nearly 20 feet in the long jump event. Ian Lamier broke the school record for the 5,000 meter run. Lamier also broke the record for the 10,000 meter run at the previous Stanford meet and now holds a Divisional III national record. Finally, Dan Arnold tied his 110m hurdle school record at 14.16 seconds.

With only a few meets left, the track and field team is looking forward to finishing the season strong. As for the continuous records being broken throughout the season, we can all hope to see more success come to the Pioneer track and field team.

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