The goal for the men’s track and field team was to win the conference meet as retribution after a four-point loss to Loras last year. The Knights were successful in their quest as they topped the Duhawks, by 150.5 to 118 this year.

“We all remembered what we felt like after we lost last year, and we knew we wouldn’t let it happen again,” senior distance runner Jake Hommer said. “We felt like we should have won that meet, but we just didn’t have a few things go the way we needed them to, and to bounce back this year and place high in every event really righted some wrongs for us.”

The team has been working toward this goal the whole indoor season. They worked through the lack of facility at the beginning of the year and continued to get better each week.

When it came to the conference meet, it was an entire team effort. The men came together as a group to come out on top at the Iowa Conference track meet last weekend. People did their jobs in their events and scored points for the team.

“We did a good job of winning day one and day two,” head coach Marcus Newsom said. “We scored in every single men’s event. We have never done that before. That’s pretty special to be able to do that and have the outcome we did.”

Overall, the men only had two first-place finishes. Brian Chenoweth won the 5,000-meter run. The distance medley relay (DMR) that consisted of Andy Hodge, Derek Peth, Kevin Balster and Hommer brought home top honors.

“The week of conference we had one of our best workouts of the year so far. It just helped prepare us by letting us know we’re ready to run as fast as we want to,” senior distance runner, Hodge, said. “Peth, Hommer, Balster, and I were really focused on qualifying our DMR to nationals. That kept us motivated all week.”

The runners got their goal with a provisionally qualifying time of 10:01.66.  That time was less than two seconds short of an automatic qualifying time.

Even though there was a lack of champions, the men ended with a 32-point lead when all was said and done. This highlighted the team effort and the men’s ability to bring home a team championship without having many individual champions.

Seniors, Newsom credited for success
Newsom attributed that to scoring multiple people in most events and the course that was set by the seniors.

“I think a lot of that has to do with our senior leadership and how they focused in before the conference meet,” he said. “They corralled the underclassmen to come in the conference meet and cheer everyone on.”

An important part of Wartburg tradition at the conference meet is their cheering section.  Every event, the people who were not competing at that time cheered on those who were. The men found this to be vital to their accomplishments at the meet.

“We have a lot of talented athletes on our team, but the biggest contribution to that win came from the people who didn’t get the chance to compete,” Hommer said. “We had a lot of people doing multiple events, which really wears on you, but you could just feel the energy coming from the Wartburg section the moment you stepped on the track. Running through that section of track lined with your teammates screaming their lungs out for you is a feeling you won’t forget.”

As the men returned to their top spot in the conference, Newsom was rewarded for his coaching. He received IIAC Men’s Coach of the Year for guiding the men back a championship.