Last Saturday, Jan. 31. the  Trinity track and field team held their annual alumni meet here despite the unpleasant weather.

This was the Tigers’ first meet of the season where all athletes competed and their second meet of the season overall.

Most  races were canceled due to the weather, but many alumni and current athletes still ran certain events.

“It’s a really fun way to introduce the team to a lot of the people that have been with the program, especially because we have a lot of All-Americans and conference champions that come back,” said assistant coach Emily Daum.

The meet is intended to be fun competition for all the athletes. This is their first outdoor meet of the season and helps them prepare.

The current team is split into two groups that have their own chosen theme, then compete against each other.

For the track team, it is an important event for team bonding as they come together  and stregthen team chemistry to start off their season.

“I’m glad to be here for practice competition to see where everyone is at,” says Kelsey Oelze, a returning athlete. “I love track and I love Trinity, so I am happy to be out here helping”.

The alumni compete and challenge the team to be prepared for the upcoming season. This year the team hopes to win the SCAC Conference Championship after a close loss to TLU last season.

“This serves as a good baseline to just kind of see where everyone is at, see what we need to work on,” junior captain Becca Earle said.

The meet is very important to see on the team strengths and weaknesses in order to train for their season.

TLU has also formed a men’s team this season, which will challenge the Trinity men’s team who won conference last year by a large margin.

There are high hopes from both the men’s and women’s teams to win the SCAC Championship title this year and hopefully send athletes to the NCAA Division III National Meet as well.

The Tigers’ next meet will be the Red Raider Open on Feb. 20, in Lubbock, Texas.

A week later on Feb. 28, the Tigers host the Trinity Open which will be the first scored home meet.