Pioneers Kick Off the 2024 Track & Field Season
The 2024 Pioneer track team kicked off the season this weekend at the JDL Flat is Fast Invitational. In total the Pioneers saw 2 new school records set, along with 11 Top-10 All-Time performances in SMC history. Freshman Romeo Brown and Malik Job kicked off the day with a 1st and 24th overall finish in the Men’s 60-meter dash qualifying. Brown’s time of 7.10 ranked him as the 3rd fastest in school history and #85 in the NJCAA. Malik Job would later come back and take 36th overall in the Men’s 200-meter dash. In the Men’s 400 Meters, Ty Scott made his track debut with a time of 59.67, good for 28th in the meet. Marc Mixtega would claim the men’s school record in the 600 meters with a time of 1:46.10, ranking him in the top 50 times this year for NJCAA. Nolan Vrooman took 22nd at the meet in the men’s 1000 meters with a lifetime best of 3:09.15, 3rd in school history, and #65 in the NJCAA. The men’s mile saw a trio of freshman – Luke Kochanowicz, Ryan Hunter, and Seth Mullen – All place in the top 40 times of the meet. Kochanowicz and Hunter now hold 8th and 9th in school history, respectively.
On the women’s side, the day was kicked off with freshman Diamond Croft taking 23rd place in the women’s 60-meter preliminaries. This time ranked her 7th in school history and within the top 100 times in the NJCAA this season. Myah Adams debuted in the 200-meter dash with a 26th overall finish and 10th in school history. In the 400 meters Sophia Outhous ran 1:05.94, good for 4th in school history and #55 in the NJCAA. She was followed by Diamond Croft who ran the 10th fastest 400 meters in SMC history and #78 in the NJCAA. In the 800 meters, freshman Averi Vance stamped her name on the record books with the 8th fastest time in school history and #73 time in NJCAA. She later doubled back for a fantastic performance in the women’s mile, where she ran the 4th fastest time in school history and #62 in the NJCAA. Finally, comes freshman Sophia Outhous’ performance in the women’s 60m hurdles. She would take 9th overall at the meet, running a new school record and top 50 time in the NJCAA.
Overall, the Pioneers had a strong showing for a season opener, they will look to back up the performances on February 2nd at the University of South Carolina.