Track & Field gears up

Feb. 10, 2005
By Tait Hillmer
Staff Writer

On your mark, get set, go!  The track teams at St. Ambrose are off and running, jumping, and throwing.  On Jan. 28 and 29 the Queen and Fighting bees participated in the Iowa State Open in Ames.

Rankings are not on the top of the list for first year head coach David Lamar.

“I expect my athletes to practice and compete to the best of their abilities on every jump, throw, vault and in every race, and to do so with poise and pride,” Lamar said.  “I want them to work toward getting better and better each and every week with each competition. If they work toward that aim, they will have surpassed my expectations.”

The indoor track season ends at East Tennessee State University on March 3 at the NAIA Indoor Nationals.  Between now and then the Fighting Bees will take on tough competition from all over the Midwest.

Coach Lamar is more interested in team accomplishments than on individual accolades.

“Everybody is a tremendously important link in the team chain. No one athlete is more significant or influential than another,” Lamar said.  “We all work together for the same objective, so if one individual scores one or two points in the Conference Championships, and another scores twelve to fifteen points, both have ultimately contributed to OUR goal of winning the Conference Meet.”

Team captains Dan Tomlin, Jen Frels and Katie Thomas also work with coach Lamar to instill a team unity,

One meet the team and Lamar is already preparing for is the outdoor Conference Championships in May at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa.

“One of the nice things about having recruited more athletes out for competition this year as opposed to previous years is that we are pretty evenly distributed in just about all areas,” Lamar said.

Despite all of the recruits Lamar still encourages anyone with high school experience and an interest in the sport to contact him.

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