Well, it is that time of year again. Time to report for the start of the season, despite only a short break. Time to smell the scent of fresh cut grass in those early morning practices. Time to get started with another outdoor track season?
That's right boys and girls. The Cavaliers outdoor track season is about to start. With an ambitious team leader in senior Inge Jorgenson, Virginia's athletes hope for an outstanding year both individually and as a team. This year is Jorgenson's sixth year due to injury, but in those six years, she has gained an enormous amount of knowledge that hopefully can inspire this year's Cavaliers to succeed.
It may come as news to most that track is a year-round sport split into indoor and outdoor seasons, with this spring's squad ready for outdoor competition.
"We are just getting through the indoor season," Jorgenson said. "We are getting the chance to see where we are at going into outdoors. We are a stronger outdoor team, and I think we have some kids that are ready to step up and have a top 10, if not top five, season in the ACC this year."
Coach Randy Bungard agreed that the Cavaliers are built for the outdoors.
"I think that we are just a much better suited team for outdoors," Bungard said. "We recruit knowing that we are going to be a better outdoor team than an indoor team."
Although the track and field team is made up of both men and women, in Virginia's case, the men frequently outperform their female counterparts.
"The women's team is really young," Bungard said. "A lot of the kids are going through that first year from high school to college. The men's team is much deeper and stronger than the women."
Although the men's team has more experience, it will rely primarily on the legs of senior Will Christian and the strong toss of junior Walker Anderson. Anderson led the team last year in the hammer and the shotput and is in position for a repeat performance, while Christian is vying for All-American status after receiving All-Region honors last year.
"Our long distance guys are back," Bungard said. "Will Christian is back -- he scored 18 points last year between the [5K] and the [10K], and there are some young guys who redshirted last year who will help us a lot."
While the Cavaliers rely on the experience of few and the emergence of many, they still have high hopes for the season.
"Track is a group of individuals that come together as a team," Bungard said. "So we train people to do well individually. Then collectively, they also do well as a team. That is what is really different about track that people don't understand. There is a team, but the team is only as good as the people who do well each day."
Virginia, however, will need a couple of young individuals to rise up and run well if the team as a whole expects this to be a season to remember.
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