DOMINIQUE JACKSON
Guest Writer
jacksods@plu.edu
Waking up to go to practice at 6 am is not what most would choose to do but for the PLU Field and Track team, it’s what works. It guarantees that we workout as a team to better ourselves individually in order to better contribute to the whole.
With my last season ahead of me, I’m excited to wring out all that I can out of my final year as a collegiate athlete.
It’s weird to think that this will be my last track and field season after being involved with the sport for over 10 years. But with 10 years of experience, that just means that I have 10 years of practice, 10 years of meets and 10 years of PR’s to better, compete and beat for this season.
What I’ve always loved about track and field is that it is an individual team sport. You are constantly trying to get better to beat the you from last week, but in bettering yourself you score more points for your team. Your team is sometimes the reason for your getting better.
When you’re tired of doing the same drill or you can’t seem to get into the right position for hammer, your teammates are there watching you and giving you tips; seeing what you can’t so that you can tweak it to get one step closer to that perfect throw.
What’s great about the PLU track and field team is that everyone seems to genuinely have an interest in one another’s events. For example, I can happily say that I will not run a competitive 800m or pole vault, but I truly appreciate and admire my teammates who have the ability to run that race or hoist themselves over a high bar with a pole.
So far the season has been great; we have a bunch of returners, all with really good chances of scoring highly at conference and we have a bunch of first year athletes who already have a big presence on the team. After our meet down at Linfield, we have 25 total athletes who have qualified in 39 events for conference.
We have a home meet Saturday March 12, so if anyone wants to watch feel free because it is free.
