DEMOREST — The 2016 track and field season will be full of new experiences for Piedmont College with the program beginning its first season in quite some time with more than a distance-only program. Piedmont will have athletes competing in the pole vault, throws, sprints, hurdles, relays, distance and middle distance events this year.
With the addition of new event groups comes the addition of more athletes through the recruiting process as Head Track & Field and Cross Country Coach Jeff Jenkins says there has been an over 500% increase in their roster from last season to this year.
"With the recruiting aspect we did bring in a lot of newcomers and now we are fielding more depth in the other track and field events," Jenkins said. "This program historically over the past 15-20 years has been a cross country program that ran distance in track and field. While we are holding on to that distance and middle distance aspect, now we have throwers, jumpers, sprinters and pole vaulters and all the other events that truly make up a track and field team."
The Lions and Lady Lions practice at Wilbanks located within a mile from the college providing the athletes with a full-time training facility featuring multi-directional throwing areas, new pole vault mat and standards and a 400 meter all-weather track. With multiple event groups and just two coaches, Jenkins and Coach Ian Layne have to maintain a busy schedule ensuring each event group receives appropriate practice time.
"For the coaches specifically, we are at practice seven days a week and on average 5-6 hours of our day is spent on practices," Jenkins said. "Four days of the week we have morning practice with conditioning in the weight room. In the afternoons on those days we begin practice around 1:00 with the field events, the pole vault and throws, then as the day goes on we start rotating in the sprinters and middle distance runners.
"Some practice groups are separated by gender as well so the days are pretty long. We can be out there any time from 1-6 p.m."
The Lions begin the season this weekend heading to Appalachian State for the Mountaineer Open, the first of three indoor meets on the schedule this season. For over 90% of the roster, this season will mark their first track & field season competing collegiately.
"I would think of this meet as something like an exhibition game. It's a game where we're going against stiff competition, Division I, Division II and NAIA," Jenkins said. "We'll be the only Division III school there I imagine. It is a good opportunity to go and see what we can do there and the good thing with track and field is you can always measure against yourself."
The 2016 track and field schedule is highlighted by six Division III meets including the outdoor opener at Berry College which will come at the Vikings' new facility built with the addition of football and track & field. That meet comes March 5 at the Berry Victor Ice-Breaker Duals.
"I'm excited to get out there and see some SAA competition, that Division III competition and get a good measure for the start of our outdoor season," Jenkins said. "The track and field athletes have been preparing for eight or nine months, and the cross country athletes are coming off their season and they've been training as well. It's exciting to see that measurement and to get out on a 400 meter track whereas the indoor tracks are usually going to be 200-300 meters."
In the sport of track and field, team goals are achieved by individuals having success. Jenkins said the main goal for 2016 is for the athletes to improve on their individuals marks in order to add to the overall points total for the team.
"I would like to see our athletes continue to improve on their marks, but also, we keep talking about the SAA, I want to see us across the board being competitive so that when the USA South adds track and field or when we determine what kind of championship we want to compete for, we can do that," Jenkins said. "The eventual goal is to get people to qualify for the national championships. I don't think that's out of the realm of possibility this year.
"It's certainly going to be a major challenge for us to do that but it's something looking ahead to the future that these freshmen can look to do in their career."
Piedmont begins the season this weekend at Appalachian State for the Mountaineer Open on Friday and Saturday in Boone, North Carolina. Results will be available and posted on PiedmontLions.com following the completion of the meet.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2016/1/366067/season-preview-youth-lead-lions-into-2016-track-and-field-season