Track and field teams excel as season comes to close

As SMU students wind down the scholastic year, swimming and tanning occupy their afternoon schedules.

As for SMU’s track team, its idea of fun in the sun, is trimming down their times and fine-tuning their throws and jumps.

Unlike most collegiate sports that have a short season, and an even shorter off-season, track is a sport that takes the commitment of each athlete to train nearly 300 days in a 365-day year.

All the preparation is to get ready for one of the biggest track meets of the year: Mt. Sac.

The track meet, which is being held at San Antonio College in California, will be a strong test for the SMU athletes.

The SMU Men’s Track & Field team is ranked No. 3 in the nation, and leading the way are throwers freshman Hannes Hopley and senior Janus Robberts. Both had NCAA-qualifying throws last week at the Texas Relays.

The men’s ranking was retrieved from Trackwire 25, a power ranking of NCAA Division I track and field teams. The ranking takes into account statistical predictors and is intended to project the outcome of the NCAA Division I track and field championships.

SMU trails Tennessee and Louisiana State University in the rankings.

On the women’s side, throwers freshman Irache Quintanal and sophomore Ruta Rakstyte will need throws of 16.10 meters to automatically qualify for the national championships. sophomore Eva Charfreitag has also qualified for the National Championships with a heave of 55.23 meters, a number that should fare well at Mt. Sac.

In addition, SMU’s Libor Charfreitag has been named the WAC Men’s Track and Field Athlete of the Week.

As for the track meet, all the conditions are set up for optimal performance by each athlete. The sprints will be held during the day, and the long-distance runs will be held in the afternoon.