By Ron Chiu

The Grinnell Men’s and Women’s Track team finished the indoor season with optimism by taking sixth place with 60 points and ninth place with 15 points respectively at the Midwest Conference Indoor Championships last weekend in Galesburg, Ill.
“Our team did pretty well. We had a lot of personal bests and some top 10 finishes all time for our team,” Kyle Lynch-Klarup ’10 said. “Our sprinting team did quite well and our 4×2 team was fantastic.”
Both teams benefited from stellar individual and relay efforts. For the men, David Montgomery ’10 secured both the 3000 and 5000 meter run titles. On the women’s side, the Pioneers took fourth place in a distance medley while Hannah Colter ’12 picked up seventh place in the 5000 meter run. The men’s team enjoys versatility within the team that it has not enjoyed before.
“This year, we have several strong points. Our sprinting program has really taken off,” Lynch-Klarup said. “We have great hurdlers and 200m and 100m runners are doing really well with Mike Martinez and Winnon Brunson. Our distance crowd is getting stronger, led by Dan Krauss and David Montgomery.”
Coach Will Freeman noticed the improved performance from all across the team, noting how some people who have been in the program have matured their abilities.
“[We are] much more balanced,” Freeman said. “We’re going to be scoring a lot of points from field events, from jumps, throws, hurdles and sprints. We’re going to get points from all of the groups.”
The men’s team performed well in spite of several injuries to important contributors.
“We were missing some key people that could have given us some points,” said Montgomery. Freeman noted that teammates Dan Krauss ’12 and Mike Gallagher ’10 were among the crucial losses to the team last weekend. Lynch-Klarup was injured after the first day of competition. Despite these injuries, team members remained hopeful for the prospects of the outdoor season.
“We’ve been having a lot of injuries but somebody else always steps up,” said Scott Phillips ’10.
Coach Freeman said that the indoor season had more priorities in staying healthy and avoiding long term injuries while building up strength for the outdoor season.
“The smart thing was to hold them out because of injuries that could have potentially created problems for the outdoor season,” Freeman said.
The women’s team this year has a considerably smaller roster than most teams both in the past and compared to other teams this year. With many women on study abroad programs this semester, the team has had difficulty being competitive across all the events.
“More people have to be accountable for performing at practice because we have a smaller team,” Colter said. “It can be hard sometimes because more numbers means a larger pool to earn points.”
Despite the numerical disadvantage, team members remained optimistic about overcoming this particular challenge.
“In terms of team score, we did not score really highly,” Sachi Graber ’12 said. “People did really well on an individual level and we’re pulling together. It’s definitely advantageous to have more people as a team, but we’re making it work and we’re also getting a chance to be closer.”
In addition to battling injuries and filling the roster, both teams also encountered difficulties in training indoors with the College’s current facilities. The current indoor track at the PEC offers limited training opportunities for the team.
“Our team tries to not run on the surface of the track because it causes injuries. So we’re limited to running on supplementary mats on one lane,” said Lynch-Klarup.
“We’re competing against a lot of schools that have good indoor facilities while we don’t,” Montgomery said. “It’s always been hindering.”
Coach Freeman expressed additional difficulties in starting the indoor season four weeks later than most teams, offering less preparation for the MWC Indoor Conference Championship. However, Freeman reiterated the importance of staying healthy for the outdoor season.
“We’re a top three team outdoors when we’re healthy. I’d like to see us Top 3,” said Freeman. “It’s a realistic goal and we have the people to do it. People need to be healthy to do it.”
The general feeling is that the team has all the pieces together for a highly successful outdoor season. As the warmer weather rolls in, the team hopes to truly shine.
“We really feel we have great potential for this team outdoors,” Freeman said. “We’re pointing for the second weekend of May and hopefully we will all come together.”