Records were broken and champions were crowned. Even though seasons come to an end, something seems to make the end lean to the sweet side rather than the bitter. For many athletes competing in the MIAC Indoor Cham- pionship Meet, it was a sweet end- ing to the indoor season.
Junior Jackson Schepp, along with a handful of other track ath- letes, made the trip up to Carleton a couple days earlier than others to compete in the heptathlon. Ac- cording to Schepp the heptathlon combines a little bit of everything — sprint, jumping, throwing and long distance — in its seven events over the course of two days.
The heptathlon is a long event and requires a lot from the athletes that participate in it. Heptathlon athletes have to be well-rounded in all the events if they want to succeed, and that was the case for Schepp. When the points were totaled and the scores came out, Schepp came out on top making him, in the words of Cobber SID, the best indoor athlete in the MIAC.
Being the heptathlon champion was a finish for the books to Schepp’s indoor season.
“I was really happy when I heard that I won,” Schepp said. “The heptathlon is a crazy event where anything can happen and I’m just glad it all worked out.”
While competing in the heptathlon Schepp gets to compete in some of his favorite events, such as the high jump, which he has been competing in since middle school. But not all the events can be a walk in the park and like most heptathlon athletes, Schepp has a least favorite.
“I’d have to say running the 1000-meter race isn’t the most fun experience,” Schepp said. “You can’t breathe, your legs hurt and there’s a lot of people screaming at you. But there is nothing like finishing that race knowing that you’ve completed one of the hardest competitions in all of the sports. It’s a real rush.”
Soon after Schepp’s recent fun, all the other athletes who weren’t competing in the heptathlon arrived in Carleton in hopes of finishing their indoor season in Schepp’s path. As races were run, jumps were measured, and things were thrown, some additional Cobber athletes brought home some hardware.
Junior Emma Peterson did her fair share in the MIAC meet wit her jumps. Like Schepp, Peterson won a champion spot with her high jump mark, but that’s not the only success she brought to the table. According to Peterson she had an event every day of the meet and one of these events was the triple jump. Peterson came into the MIAC meet ranked 12th and finished third. Triple jump isn’t a regular event for Peterson.
“I came in only doing triple jump one time in my life,” Peterson said. “So, at MIAC was really the first real triple jump competition I have had.”
According to Peterson she doesn’t even have a technique down for triple jump; her teammates and coaches helped her prepare for her jumps — which seemed to have worked seeing as she came out of the the meet with a third place finish.
While Peterson finished the meet with a couple of major successes, so did freshman David Supinski.
Supinski competes in a wide variety of running events, but the one that put the icing on the cake for his first indoor MIAC meet was his 600-meter race. Not only did Supinski come out with a fourth place finish, he broke a long-standing school 600-meter record, and this is his first year competing in the 600-meter race.
“The four and the eight were my best races in high school,” Supinski said. “So the six seemed like an ob- vious option for me.”
The 600 looked to be perfect right off the bat for Supinski.
“I ran it our first real meet and it seemed to fit me well,” Supinski said. “I was close to the school record then, so I thought, ‘Well keep trying at it.’”
Another record- breaker, Hannah Lundstrom, who recently broke the decade-long record for the 200, also experienced less success at the MIAC Indoor Championship meet. Lundstrom claimed the titles of 200- and 400-meter champion and placed third in her 55-meter race. Going into the 200 and 400 Lundstrom was the favorite, which at times can be difficult.
“I don’t enjoy being the center of attention,” Lundstrom said. “I would much rather be the underdog.”
Knowing her pre-race rankings didn’t change her mindset going into the races though.
“Before each of my races I focused on my warm-up while listening to music to distract myself,” Lundstrom said. “Before every race I say a prayer to help me with my nerves and after, I am always ready to run my race. During the race I blocked everything else out and concentrated on my stride and staying relaxed. It’s the same strategy I have for every race.”
Lundstrom’s finishes brought in some serious points for the third place finish of Cobber women’s track and field team. For Lundstrom that’s all she could ask for.
“Overall I was happy with my performances, but I am more proud of my team placing third,” Lundstrom said. “We have not placed that high in years. It is much more fun to share the glory with my teammates than with myself.”
Although indoor season has just come to an end, the athletes have shifted their focus right to the out- door season in hopes to continue the trend of bringing in the hardware.
“I would love for our team to give the Tommies a run for their money and win outdoor MIAC,” Peterson said. We have the tools and athletes to do it. Whether it’s from our heptathletes, jumpers, throwers, hurdlers, sprinters or distance run- ners, we have great athletes in tons of events. If we all do what we are capable of, we have a great chance of pulling out a win. It will be a very fun outdoor season.”
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