The track and field team at Seattle University headed to University of Washington over the weekend for their first meet of the season. Energy was high as athletes from Stanford, UW, Oregon State, University of Oregon and many more gathered for the UW Indoor Preview.
Seattle U attends this meet yearly, although for the first time they were accompanied by Kelly Sullivan, who is in his first year as head coach of men’s and women’s track and field. He is spending the first few meets working to understand the team to better prepare for upcoming season.
There’s a lot to look forward to in the upcoming season, but Sullivan is most excited simply to be the head coach at Seattle U. “Even though I’ve been a collegiate coach for over 30 years, it’s my first year as SU’s head coach, and representing the red and black at this university and being a part of it,” he said.
Sullivan is taking the lead from athletes, getting to know how they practice and prepare, and focusing on individual goals. “You don’t want to get ahead of yourself—there’s a lot of learning on both sides,” Sullivan said. “These first initial meets you’re doing a lot of observation, a lot of critiquing, and then eventually you’re sitting down and getting a better picture to work with.”
Laurel Mack-Wilson takes an attempt at a bar 1.45m.
There are a combined 47 athletes on the women and men’s track teams, and 28 men and women competed this weekend in events ranging from the 60 meter hurdles to the mile run. Many athletes competed in events outside of their traditional comfort zones, and others came very close to beating personal records.
The women’s team did well, as senior Abby Wachter excelled in the 400m dash, finishing first in her heat with a time of 1:01.29. Over at the high jump, freshman Cora Devaney finished fifth in her flight, clearing 1.5m. Siobhan Rubio finished the 600m run second in her heat.
The men’s team had a successful meet as well. Matt Seidel broke his personal record for the mile, placing ninth in his section with a time of 4:20.20. Also in the mile, Eli Boudouris and Lance Slichko both broke personal records, finishing first and second in their section, with times of 4:19.62 and 4:20.03 respectively. Cam Peters placed 11th at the high jump, clearing 1.8m.
As the season progresses, Sullivan will focus on how Seattle U can improve as a team rather than focusing on the opposition. “I respect and appreciate [all teams in the WAC], I don’t like singling any one or two or three teams out,” Coach Sullivan said. “Our competition is among ourselves and it’s also among the other schools in the conference.”
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