Plattsburgh State’s track and field team will have many athletes competing at the upcoming All-Atlantic Regional Tournament at the College at Brockport Wednesday and Thursday, according to head coach Nick Jones. The Cardinals have one simple goal in mind when they compete.
“To win,” said Brian Fabian, junior sprinter. “To score as many points as we can for our team.”
Not everyone who qualified for the All-Atlantic regionals will be making the trip to Brockport because of the tournament conflicting with finals week for students. Athletes’ health and the weather are two factors that will play an important role for PSUC at the All-Atlantic regionals.
“We just need to stay healthy,” Jones said. “We finally got some nice weather at SUNYAC’s, so that’s why we saw a huge jump in performances for everybody.”
The Cards finished in third place for women’s and in eighth place for men’s in total team points at the SUNYAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships, which was held May 4-5 at SUNY Geneseo. PSUC jumped 99 spots in the Division III national rankings to 54th place.
Junior distance runner Matt Jenkins received the SUNYAC Elite 20 award for his fourth time, which celebrates high academic and athletic achievement in the SUNYAC conference. Jenkins, a physics major, has a 4.0 grade point average. Jenkins was also inducted into PSUC’s Chi Alpha Sigma chapter Monday, which is a college athlete honor society. Jones was happy for Jenkins upon hearing the news.
“Track kids get it done in the classroom,” Jones said. “He’s doing tremendously.”
Fabian qualified for the All-Atlantic regionals after he ran the 400-meter dash in 49.43 seconds, finishing fourth.
Graduate student Stephanie Boucher won the 800-meter run after finishing with a time of 2:16.98, which is currently the fourth best time in Division III. Freshman Michael Hartlieb III finished fourth in the hammer throw with a distance 42.63 m.
The women’s 4×100 relay team of sophomores Elisabeth Plympton and Marissa Jones, freshman Janyll Barber and senior Ashlee Estes broke the Cards’ previous record, finishing third with a time of 49.46 seconds. Estes believes communication was key to her relay team’s success.
“Our communication was pretty good, especially having two newcomers on the team,” Estes said.
PSUC struggled early on in the outdoor track and field season because of inclement weather and difficulties adjusting from indoor to outdoor track, according to Jones.
“When we do fast stuff, it’s not ideal to be outside below 30 degree weather because we could potentially get hurt,” Nick Jones said.
As the outdoor track and field season winds down, Jones stressed athletes staying conditioned during the off-season.
“The thing they need to do is do the mileage over the summer,” Nick Jones said. “When we come back, we have about a week and a half before our actual first competition, so that’s not much time if you didn’t do the work over the summer.”
Email Nate Mundt at sports@cardinalpointsonline.com
