Track begins season at IPFW
Over the past couple months, the University of Indianapolis track and field team has been preparing for the upcoming season. According to Head Coach Scott Fangman, the team has worked hard to be in good shape.
Fangman said much has changed for the team since last season, not just because the team has received a new training facility in the Athletics and Recreation Center, but because their work ethic and how they have prepared themselves up to this point has transformed.
He also added that he was pleased with the progress the team has made in the off season.
“It’s probably one of our strongest off-seasons in my 15 years here. We have a tighter group, talent wise and have the largest numbers, about 145 kids on the roster right now. We had a good cross-country year this year, and everybody there has stayed in good shape,” Fangman said. “I don’t care what anyone says, because when the dogs hunt on their own, it sure makes everything better and my job a lot easier.”
Along with all of the hard work, the track and field team also returns with more experience, especially within the coaching staff, according to Fangman.
“We added some people and have a lot more experience, which is not a weak spot with us. I think our strongest suit as a team, is the fact that I have a coaching staff that has stayed together for 15 years, and we’re up there in age, too,” Fangman said, jokingly.
From the hard work and experience combined, both the coaches and runners have began to notice a difference in the overall performance of the team.
Junior Braden Miller, who competes in combined events, said that he has seen positive changes throughout the entire team.
“The program has changed directly 180 degrees, to the point where it’s not even the same. Everything has just changed and has just really built our team,” Miller said. “If I had to put it [the progress of the team in the offseason] against something, we are already better than what we were at the end of last year at this point right now.”
One of the reasons team members believe they have improved from last season is because of the newly added training facility, or ARC. The facility, which was completed this past spring, has a lot to offer athletes who cannot practice outdoors in the winter months, such as the indoor track team.
To the runners and Fangman, the new facility is something the team has hoped to have for a long time.
“I can’t put that [the usage of the ARC] in any kind of perspective for you of how excited we are. It’s like being a little kid at Christmas or getting your first new car,” Fangman said. “We didn’t realize how big of a handicap we were operating under until last year when we got the facility and they allowed us to use it on asphalt. It gave us, by the time the indoor training had ended, the advantage of being three to four weeks ahead of where we usually would have been.”
Although the inside of the ARC is covered with field turf for upcoming Super Bowl activities in Indianapolis, the student-athletes have enjoyed the ARC’s benefits to prepare for the upcoming season.
Senior distance runner Katie Hall said that the ARC has been beneficial to how the team has trained for the season as far as allowing the team to practice on campus.
“Yes, it [the ARC] is a nice fit. I mean, they are going to use it during our indoor time for the Super Bowl, so we won’t be able to use it then,” she said. “They painted the track on there for a couple of months, and we could use that. So that was good towards our advantage to where we didn’t have to train when it was icy outdoors.”
Although the facility has served as a positive bonus for the team, Fangman believes it can serve a larger purpose.
“I have never had an indoor facility in my 37 years of coaching, and now I realize that it is just a totally different game,” he said. “So I think the U of I track kids, athletes and students who are interested in fitness are going to truly see a change in their lives. I love the name, the ARC. But I really want to emphasize for it to be called the Human Performance Lab. This is the human performance, and we all, now, can become better physically than what we are, whatever that might be, because we all have a starting point.”
The track and field team opened the season on Dec. 3, when a select group of the student-athletes traveled to the Mastadon Opener held at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. The Greyhounds finished in the top four positions of the men’s weight throw, with senior Matt Royer placing first with a mark of 19.41 meters.
Sophomore Ryan Smith placed second with a throw of 18.50 meters. Junior Marcus Montgomery came in third with a distance of 17.38 meters and senior Nikko Peebles placed fourth in the event with a throw of 16.55 meters.
UIndy also dominated the men’s shotput as well, with Smith placing first with a mark of 16.86.
Royer followed with a mark of 15.77 meters and Peebles was third with a mark of 14.27. Smith’s marks in both weight throw and shotput qualified for NCAA provisional cuts.
Royer made the provisional cuts as well for weight throw, and freshman Joshua Bass also grabbed a NCAA provisional cut in the long jump.
The team will compete at Indiana Wesleyan on Jan. 21 in the IWU Invitational I.
