Track team overcomes injuries

Southeast’s track and field team has been filled with injuries this season, but most of the student-athletes have been overcoming them. The team’s most recent meet was the Gibson Invitational held April 14 and 15, and it involved five teams.

Recently, the 4x4 relay was affected by junior sprinter Jarred Pasley’s hamstring issues, but he returned for the Gibson Invitational.

Pasley returned to place second in the 400-meter dash, with a time of 47.38 seconds. The 4x4 relay also competed again and received a time of 3:22.

“We have the same goal each meet, which is to improve,” head coach Eric Crumpecker said.

The team’s goal is not to dominate each meet. The student-athletes want to gradually get better, and when the vital meets come up toward the end of the season then the athletes should be at their peak.

In the Gibson meet, the women’s team had a few top 8 placements, some of which include athletes like senior thrower Kayla Gutierrez, who placed third in discus with a 47.81-meter throw and fourth in the shot put with 14.08-meters. Gutierrez went on to win first place in the women’s hammer throw with a 56.21-meter throw.

Junior distance runner Eilish Overby received fifth place in the 800-meter run. Also, junior vaulter Sierra Maddox received third place in the pole vault with 3.68 meters.

The men’s team took first and second in the javelin throw with junior thrower Richard Vinson who received a 55.42-meter throw and sophomore thrower Andrew Ryan who threw for 50.48 meters.

Currently, Vinson is one of the featured athletes at Southeast for his previous accomplishment at the Auburn meet on April 8 , where he threw for 57.21 meters in the javelin throw.

Freshman thrower Logan Blomquist placed third in shot put with a 16.20-meter throw, while also placing third in discus with a 53.03-meter throw. Along with him, sophomore thrower Steven Zagurski placed fourth in hammer throw with a 57.29-meter throw.

While continuing the men’s high placings, junior Wesley White placed second in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 54.32 seconds.

Southeast’s team has been showing progression from meet to meet, and throughout all the injuries, they still manage to compete. Their next meet will be the Georgia Tech Invitational on April 22 and 23.