Gensel pleased with team’s effort
Although the season is quite young, Utah State’s track and field team is already focused on one aspect of its performance: improvement.
At least that’s the main objective for Head Coach Gregg Gensel. With the season just underway, he hopes to see his team build upon what they have already accomplished.
“I am excited for what they’ve done,” he said. “The athletes want to do better. Some of the hurdlers have made great improvement.”
Gensel said there really are no particular areas that the team needs to work on, though he hopes that this weekend’s meets in Texas and at BYU will help them improve all around.
The Texas Relays, which started Thursday, will include the technical events, such as the hurdles, the discus, the shot put, the hammer throw and the relay event. The athletes competing there are expected to have a chance at the national meet, which will be taking place in Texas this June.
“We wanted them to get to know the facilities,” Gensel said.
The rest of the team will be competing at the BYU Invitational Saturday in Provo. Much like the relays in Texas, Gensel wants the event to give the athletes a chance to build upon their talent.
“Hopefully, we’ll have good enough weather to improve,” he said.
Some of the team members seem to share their coach’s focus. Junior hurdler Emily Hillam says this season she hopes to set a new personal record.
Hillam says that since she came to USU, “I’ve learned how to work for myself. I have a lot more heart and dedication.”
Coming back from a stress fracture, Hillam feels that she will be able to accomplish the goals she has set for herself if she keeps conditioning and training the way she has. She is also as pleased as her coach is with the way the Aggies are turning out.
“The team has prepared pretty well,” she said. “We have a really good coaching staff.”
In reference to this weekend at BYU, Hillam said the competition should be pretty good with BYU, Weber and SUU.
“All the Utah schools have really good teams,” she said.
High jumper and alternate 4X4 runner Lacy Schroeder shares similar sentiments, both personal and team-related.
Competing at USU for the second year, Schroeder said she came as a walk-on and jumped 5 feet 4 inches. Since then, she has improved her jump by two inches. Already this year, she has set two personal records and hopes to set another one before the season is over. That’s not her main desire, though.
“My goal is to help the team,” she said. “We have a lot more depth this year, and our athletes are stepping it up.”
Schroeder also believes that, after watching the men win the conference the last two years, it’s “the women’s turn.”
Last year, the women had only one sprinter competing. This year, however, they have four, which will improve their chances of placing at each meet, subsequently earning more points.
As a whole, improvement is on the mind of the team.
“They just all need to keep progressing, and they are,” Gensel said.
-mattandersen@cc.usu.edu