Track & Field

February 21, 2023 By bacw Leave a Comment

Insight on the Track Team!

Author: The Crusader Staff Writer, Kenneth Jensen

Track and Field is one of the most popular individual sports, as it has many athletes going against each other to see who is the best! It is always fun to watch athletes compete because of the high suspense the people have before and after an event. The Belmont Abbey College Track and Field team is known for its many accomplishments. Last year, they competed in the 2022 Conference Carolinas Championship Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field. They came in fourth place with three athletes breaking the school record and making all-conference! But for the new starting season, they also have many incoming freshmen and a new coach in their lineup!

The new coach, James Thierfelder, is getting everyone ready to compete in the track meets. Coach James has excellent experience coming off as a Belmont Abbey Track and Field alumni. His input on the freshman is exciting as he says, “this new team that we formed this year is great. We have a lot of exciting freshmen with great times. I’m excited to see the growth of everyone on the team”.

The Track and Field athletes undergo challenging conditioning workouts to prepare for the upcoming season. They run 10-20 100-meter repeats for hard days, with only 25 seconds to recover before they run again. This workout is challenging because it usually takes about 2 minutes to recover from a sprint but to train our D2 athletes to the best of their ability, they have less time to recover to get their bodies in better shape. As for a follow-up the next day, they do bodyweight workouts, with light stretching exercises after. For team bonding, once every week, they play fun games, like kickball or football, to get everyone excited and loose.

Our other main Track and Field coaches, Dan Finanger and Tomas Cerdeiras, love to keep the team positive throughout every workout and session. The crew hangs with each other almost daily to keep that positive vibe, even in the classroom! But the question is, why should you support the track team? Our athletes are excited to watch as they compete hard to the best of their ability, and the track team is an outstanding team that positively impacts our school and our community.

Don’t be afraid to drop by the track and support us; we would love to have you guys!

This article was originally posted in the Fall 2022, Issue 2 of The Crusader Newspaper. Download the full issue.

February 20, 2023 By bacw Leave a Comment

Freshmen to Watch on the Track and Field team

Author: The Crusader Staff Writer, Levi Byer

The Belmont Abbey Track Team has gradually improved over the past few years. Last year was a pretty good year for the team, where they placed 4th in the Conference Carolinas. The track team has some real upcoming talent this year. This could be the year where the Abbey’s Track team wins it all.

One of the fastest freshmen on the team is Kenny Jensen. He runs 10.7 seconds in the 100-meter dash. Jensen has run track all through high school and is looking to continue improving his 100-meter time. I asked Jensen how much time he was looking to shave off his 100-meter time this year. He responded with, “.03-.04 seconds,” which would have him running a 10.3. That would make him one of the fastest runners in our conference.

Another one of our freshmen is Rex Thorston. He’s from Reno, Nevada, and will be the second-highest high jumper on the team. High jump is a field event; it involves a lot of skill and form. His PR is 6’4 in the high jump. I asked him what he was looking forward to the most this year. He responded, “I am most looking forward to Coach Tomas’s training. I think he will be able to take me to new heights.”

Our freshman pole vault crew is looking very good this year. The freshman pole vaulters consist of Syah Huenink, Bryson Church, and Levi Byer. Syah and Bryson are vaulting over 12 feet, and Levi is vaulting 11 feet.

As a track enthusiast, I know pole vaulting is by far the hardest field event, so to be vaulting this high is very impressive. They should be able to rack up quite a few points in the upcoming meets. All in all, it looks like the track team will be pretty solid this year.

Hopefully, with the coaching of Dan Finanger, and training from Tomas Cerdeiras and James Thierfelder, they can help the team win the conference this year!

This article was originally posted in the Fall 2022, Issue 2 of The Crusader Newspaper. Download the full issue.

February 2, 2023 By bacw Leave a Comment

Coaches Job from The Athletes Perspective

Author: The Crusader Staff Writer, Miles Gutzman

The track and field team has recently hired Coach James Thierfelder, a former Belmont Abbey track and field athlete who is now a well-respected and very dedicated coach with many records to his name that hopes to advance the program further. This past year he graduated and accepted a job to help coach the track teams sprinters. I got the chance to interview him and get an insight into the key differences he has noticed and experienced since becoming a coach for his past team.

“What influenced you to want to become a coach?”

“I wanted to offer the skill and knowledge I learned from being a part of the team along with bringing a new sense of coaching and further developing the team’s abilities.”

Previous teammates of Coach James stated that he has experience in his training through practicing as a teammate, proving his form of practice has been very beneficial.

With the freshman class coming in, the team has picked up a handful of talented athletes in all events that have come to further their abilities and help improve the team’s ranking. One freshman athlete, Miles Gutzman, is a long jumper and short sprinter from Marietta, GA. Miles’ personal records include 21ft 11.75″ in the long jump and 11.3 seconds in the 100 meters. He hopes to increase both of these personal records substantially and possibly even break the school long jump record of 22ft 5 1/4″ in the up-and-coming season with the help of Coach Dan, Coach Tomas, and Coach James.

Many more outstanding freshman athletes add to the amazing team, steadily improving and performing to the best of their ability. With these athletes coming to the school, providing their strengths, and being guided by amazing coaches, there is no doubt that the team will finish conference ranked higher than ever before.

This article was originally posted in the Fall 2022, Issue 2 of The Crusader Newspaper. Download the full issue.