The women’s track team snagged their first-ever NE10 championship win on February 17 at the New Balance Track in Boston. The team was runner-up last season.
The team had at least one person in every event; sprint events, distance events, jumps, and throws. The team scored the most points in the 5k (top 3), shotput, and the pentathlon.
Ashley Corcoran (graduate student) spoke on the hours of training and hard work that went into winning a championship.
“A lot of race planning goes into winning a championship,” said Corcoran. “Thinking about who needs to race what and how everyone can best optimize their energy to help the team. We train all year to get ready to peak in training and be our best when we need to, at the conference championships.”
Corcoran herself was a first-place finisher in the 5k, 3k, and mile races. She also ran the mile-leg of the distance medley relay, and a leg of the 4x800m relay, and was awarded Most Valuable Athlete of the meet and Most Outstanding Track Performer.
Now that the indoor season is over and the outdoor season has begun, Corcoran spoke on what it’s like moving forward as champions.
“Being NE10 champs is such an incredible feeling. This is my fifth year at SNHU, so I’ve watched this team be built from the ground up. It’s amazing to see how far we have come, and show everyone what we are capable of,” said Corcoran.
Women’s track and field head coach Lex Butler spoke on how the whole team contributes to the team’s success.
“The whole team stands out to me,” said Butler. “It’s cliché, but it was a true team effort. We scored in all 17 out of 18 events, and most, if not all the team either scored or PR’d in their events. That’s all we ever can ask for.”
When it was coming down to the win, Butler knew they had it, but the girls pushed on and continued to give it their all.
“We still had two more relays to run, the 4x800m and 4x400m. I told the relay teams that we had won the championship and it didn’t matter what the outcome of the two relays were, we were still going to win the meet. They were of course happy but told me they wanted to ‘send it’ and do the absolute best they could….They went out and both ran season bests after a long 2-days of racing. I was very proud of the heart and determination,” said Butler.
With it being SNHU’s first indoor track win, the team’s emotions after the win were happiness and excitement.
“The energy after the win was very high. This was SNHU’s first indoor championship win in history,” said Corcoran. “It’s a very surreal moment when all of our hard work pays off. Everyone was just happy and excited to be a part of such an incredible thing.”
Coach Butler was proud of the adversity the girls showed at both times of success and times of defeat.
“I’m very proud and excited for our team. As [with] any team, there are ups and downs. This team worked incredibly hard and [was] able to come together and fight for each other to reach their goal of winning the championship. However, the excitement was short-lived for myself. Shortly after the win, the coaching staff and I began planning for our Outdoor NE10 Championship in May,” said Butler.
The team is starting to get ready for their first outdoor home meet on March 31st.
