The Tigers’ spring track and field season doesn’t officially start until March 21, yet Trinity has already competed in two meets with five more scheduled before their opening meet at Texas State University. Unlike any other NCAA sport, track and field has two distinct seasons, with two distinct NCAA Championships.
Track and field’s indoor season is one of the many ways that coaches and athletes at Trinity seek to gain a competitive edge in the sport.
“The season is super long,” junior distance runner and captain Josette Gurule said. “Indoor track is considered a build up time, … a building block to SCAC and the championship season of outdoor.”
Most schools Trinity will face in the spring also use the winter season to build towards these competitions. Gurule elaborated on what Trinity in particular is doing to get a leg up on the competition.
“It’s a good time to learn how to race in our packs,” Gurule said. “To figure out how to build each other up and how to do workouts together.”
While many see track and field as an individual sport, team chemistry remains a key aspect of competition. In particular, a strong culture can help newcomers feel at home, as first-year pole vaulter Addie Doss explains.
“I came into Trinity not knowing a lot of people,” Doss said. “When you do difficult things together, such as an awful 400-meter workout, that creates a little bit of trauma bonding. Knowing that I have a group of people that has my back wherever I go is amazing.”
Doss had a unique opportunity to gain an edge during this winter block. She didn’t start vaulting until her sophomore year of high school, and the resources available to her were limited. Yet, through the winter training, Doss has been able to hit the ground running — or rather, vaulting — at Trinity, finishing fifth in her event at the first Houston FasTrack Meet.
“I have every pole that I could ever imagine, need or want,” Doss said. “I have a coach who is so incredible, knowledgeable and hungry. This winter training has been one of my best years yet, creating the space for me to jump, hopefully, a school record and in the indoor finals.”
As a field athlete, Doss’s winter season looks a little bit different than Gurule’s. As Gurule transitions the focus of her distance training from cross country to the significantly shorter mile and 800-meter races, Doss and her field teammates are working to hone in their intricate movements and techniques.
“Being in a vertical jump crew, our skill set is going to be a little bit different,” Doss said. “We do a few more weight days, … different plyometric exercises, a lot of core, a gymnastic day which is rope climbs, rings and fundamental pole vaults technique.”
Senior distance runner Will Saloney brought another more philosophical use of the indoor season to light.
“Indoor gives you a lot of time to reflect on your goals,” Saloney said. “Most of track and cross [country] is go, go, go. This period is a good state to be in to evaluate where you’re at mentally and physically.”
Saloney is a prolific runner in cross country indoor track and outdoor track, with achievements like the best finish in Trinity cross country history at the cross country championships, four Trinity record times and five all-region and nine all-SCAC awards. The problem, however, is that Saloney developed an injury towards the end of the last outdoor track season.
“It’s bad tendonitis,” Saloney said. “I made the mistake of running through it last track season and it made it hard to run for about two months. Coming into cross season, it had gotten better, but it flared up and for a large part of the season I was running through it again.”
For Saloney, though, the length of the indoor season could be enough to get him healthy in time to reach for more records and accolades.
“Coming back, especially with an achilles, is a long process,” Saloney said. “I’ve been using this time to build my strength back up. … We still got a little less than two months left, and I hopefully will be back running in a couple weeks. It’s still a lot of time, and outdoor goes on until late May.”
Beyond recovering from his injury, Saloney shared that this indoor season has a sentimental value as he approaches his final spring season.
“These guys have been my best friends for the past four years,” Saloney said. “We’re going to be parting ways here in a couple months. Taking advantage of the moments with all your friends and teammates is the most important thing for me.”
The indoor season continues for the Tigers this Saturday, Feb. 8 as they return to the University of Houston for the second FasTrack Meet where Gurule and Doss will hope to repeat top-10 and top-five finishes in their respective events
