FOND DU LAC, Wis. – The Marian University track and field team made major strides throughout the 2014-15 spring season en route to earning 10 points in the women's portion of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Meet to top off the year.
"The goal for the spring was to have as many of my student athletes that were eligible compete, as well as include athletes from other sports, and invite interested students on to the team to help grow our numbers," Head coach Dan Allen said. "From there I wanted to find success at the conference championships."
One of Marian's multi-sport athletes, Kristin Skubic led the charge for the Sabres at the conference championships. The senior brought home all 10 of the Sabres points at the event and finished one spot away from earning all-conference in both the 800-meter and 1500-meter runs.
"Kristin gave it her all at practice, worked hard on her own and competed tough in meets, which is what a coach wants to see," Allen said. "The fact that she scored 10 points for our team in the championships is huge and that will give us a benchmark and a boost for next year with what we look forward to accomplishing."
While Skubic took part in the longer runs for the women, Sydney Cihak a freshman from Roselle, Wis. arose as a sprinter. Allen has high hopes that she can extend her talent throughout the upcoming years.
"Sydney was great with the short sprints this year and with some added strength I am hoping she can add the 400 to her repertoire as well," Allen said.
The Sabre men made some key additions throughout the season including Justin Cooke, Cole McCaig and Mark Whitely. All are freshmen with a background in track and are also member of the men's hockey team. The trio brought a versatile aspect to the team, with the ability to run almost anything asked of Allen.
"Justin spent a lot of time running the 800 and 1500 this season but at the end of the year I wanted him to focus a little bit more on the faster stuff like the 200 and 400," Allen said. "He came away with a huge personal record in the conference prelim of the 400-meter dash and missed the finals by less than half a second."
"Mark was our speedster, who usually took part in the 100 and 200. A hamstring injury interrupted his season, but when he raced he was fun to watch," Allen said.
Allen said he looks to add about 25 to 30 new runners to the roster to put the projected team total at almost 40 for next season.
"The addition of this many runners will be huge as it will almost triple our roster size," Allen said. "It will do wonders for the team atmosphere. With that many kids you are bound to have a few break through, which will help us achieve our goal of adding a couple more points in conference and potentially leap frog a few teams."
Allen still considers next year being a development year as the team roster will consist of mostly sophomores and freshmen.
"I am more worried about setting athletes up for their sophomore, junior and senior years. The first year is intense as runners are transition from high school to college," Allen said. "I want to make sure we will get the best out of them throughout their entire college careers."
The 2015 cross country season will take place in the fall, while track and field will pick up in the spring of 2016.
