Buses carrying student athletes across the country swarmed campus from March 28-29 thanks to the Trinity Invitational. The invitational is the Tigers’ only home meet throughout the season, and they had many standout performances, including broken records. Later, at the most recent meet on April 4, the David Noble Relays, Trinity’s throwers found success despite team coaches pulling the rest of the team from the meet due to weather concerns.
At the Trinity Invitational, Joy Areola — who represented Trinity at the Division III National Championships in March — placed second in the women’s triple jump with a distance of 11.96 meters. Entering her final outdoor season, Areola shared her goals to compete at nationals.
“For triple jump, there was just really good competition there, but it still puts me in a really good place nationally. The person who beat me was [Division II]. The goal is to re-qualify for nationals. I’m on the cusp right now, but I’d like to get back to where I was last year and get to the top 10 again.”
Areola wasn’t originally planning to compete in track for her senior year. She explained that track was difficult to fit into her schedule despite the fact that she grew to love the sport.
“Especially becoming busier as a student, and being in that competitive atmosphere, I started dealing with some mental health issues, so I decided to take a step back this semester,” Areola said. “I reevaluated after December, and looking at my class schedule, I was like, okay, I can definitely make this work. My coaches were super supportive. They got me in touch with some people to talk to.”
Addison Doss and Victoria Baker took fourth and fifth place for women’s pole vault respectively, both clearing a height of 3.33 meters. Doss spoke about the transition to training at Trinity this season.
“I’ve been talking to some of my high school coaches, and just explaining how much stronger, how much faster, how much more my technique has been dialed in. I do think that that’s all because of outdoor training and out season training, as well as our in season,” Doss said.
While track is an individual sport, the team environment still plays a role in athletes’ experiences. Doss expanded on how the track team has eased her transition as a first-year at Trinity.
“I absolutely adore our team environment.We all look out for each other. We all just care about each other so much. It really is a family. Coming to Trinity, I didn’t really know a lot of people, and so knowing that I would go in with people who are not only my teammates and not only my friends, but feel like family, has been amazing,” Doss said.
At the David Noble Relays, the throwers found success. Jack Witkow finished 11th for men’s shot put with a 37.81 meter throw. All five athletes in the women’s discus placed top twenty. Leading the throwers was junior Madeleine Seabolt in 10th, followed by sophomore Rachel Bell in 11th. Bell commented on where the throwers are at this stage in the season.
“The thing about pole vaulting is it’s a very mentally taxing sport because you’re training your body to do the opposite of what it wants to do. You have to have a strong team there to pick you up on the bad days.”
The throwers welcomed a new coach this year, assistant Tanner Trigg. Bell discussed how this has shaped the throwers’ training and how it has structured their practices.
“[W]e now have set schedules for when we get to throw, which has really helped us out,” Bell said. Honestly, track is such an individualized sport. You have to focus on your own performance. Getting out there, getting in as many reps as we can, making sure we’re getting into the weight room afterwards or before, just making consistency is key.”
Trinity track and field’s next meet, the Carl Kight Invite and Multi, is from April 11-12 at Stephen F. Austin University.
