By Kristin Griffith, The Whetstone

The Men’s 4×200 meter relay team won gold at the Eastern College Athletic Conference championship meet in Boston, Mass., on March 7.

Freshmen Johnny Crenshaw, Markael Jenkins, Da’Jahn Lowery and Patrick Schlosser beat the school record (1:29.15), helping their team place seventh out of 60 teams on March 7.

Despite their accomplishments in the conference championship meet, track coach Stephen Kimes said they can do more.

“I think our men’s team proved that we can be among the elite track and field teams on the East Coast but we still need to work harder and not use excuses on both sides, men and women,” Kimes said. “I was impressed with the all-freshman men’s 4×200 meter victory and national best time.”

The participants for the first place relay team were satisfied with their performance.

track_600

“I think we did great,” Schlosser said. “A team of all freshman winning gold at ECAC’s is pretty cool.”

“I ran my fastest split in the 4×200,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins also had a personal record in the 60-meter dash. Now he has the eleventh best time for this race in the nation. Jenkins’ performance at ECAC qualified him to go to nationals, where he finished fourteenth in the 60-meter dash.

The men were successful in other events as well.

The 4×400 meter relay team, made up of freshmen Anthony Brinkley, Evan Le’mon, Dominic McAnulty and junior Carlton Sheppard, finished in fourth place while also breaking the Capital Athletic Conference record.

Unlike the men, the women’s team was not as effective in ECAC.

“Our women’s team, when fully healthy, is a juggernaut as well,” Kimes said. “I know it was tough for our women to see Rowan win the 4x200m relay when we beat them by a couple seconds earlier in the year before injuries struck. Our expectations are always to be the best at every meet and in some cases we showed that at the ECAC Championships, but in a lot of ways, we didn’t.”

Kimes believes at the rate the track team is going, they can achieve great things in the future.

“With our team being so young, approximately 95 percent freshman, it shows that our teams could eventually be one of the best track and field teams in the nation if we work hard, don’t complain and not make excuses,” he said. “This is a process that is supposed to take a lot of time, but our athletes know that we as coaches don’t have the patience for a lot of time.”