Men's Indoor & Outdoor Track Outlook
Coach Don Jayroe discusses the new Track program at Lee:
“We are very pleased that track is now being sponsored by Lee University. When I came to
Lee over three years ago, our runners became year-round runners so that they could compete with other competitive programs, not only in our conference, but on the national level.”
“With indoor and outdoor track becoming sports at Lee, not only will it provide more that student-athletes can participate in, but it will also make us more competitive with other NAIA athletic programs.”
“The NAIA has 144 colleges that participate in indoor track, 166 that have outdoor track, and 216 that participate in cross-country. In our conference (Southern States Athletic Conference), we have 11 schools that have cross-country programs, with Shorter, Emmanuel, and Lee also having track.”
“Even though we are affiliated with the NAIA and we belong to a conference, in track, we compete against NCAA Division I, II and III teams. We qualify for the NAIA National Championship by meeting the qualifying standard in that particular event. We especially schedule our meets where we know that 20-40 schools will have teams entered.”
“For the indoor and outdoor track seasons we will be running at Clemson, Kentucky, East Tennessee State, Emory, Georgia Tech, Tennessee, University of the South, and Indiana University. Some of these schools we will be running two meets during the season.”
Lee will be competing in these events:
Distance Events (Indoor Track) Distance Events (Outdoor Track)
400 meters 400 meters
600 meters 800 meters
800 meters 1500 meters
1000 meters 5000 meters
Mile Run 3000 meter steeplechase
3000 meters (women) Distance Medley Relay
4x800 Relay 10,000 meters
Distance Medley Relay 4x800 Relay
5000 meters Marathon
“Although we are beginning track this season, our program will be with emphasis on the running events starting with the 400 meters and up. We will not actively seek athletes in non-running events, but we will consider athletes that do other events.”
“Last indoor and outdoor track season Lee had three athletes that qualified in seven running events. Anna Hrushka finished No.3 in the indoor mile (5:02), becoming the program’s first All-American. She also qualified in the 5000 and the 800, but did not run those events in the nationals, as it would have been too difficult to compete in all of them. Maggie Opelt qualified in the 3000, 5000, and the mile indoors, and qualified in outdoor track in the 1500 and 5000. Caleb Morgan qualified for the mile in indoor track.”
“I expect that all of these athletes will qualify in their specialty events with our goals set at running at the All-American standard of finishing in the top six at nationals. Freshman Victoria Yates should qualify in the 5000, and Mike Walker should qualify in the mile.”
“With a strong and talented cross country team of 10-12 competitive athletes, our goal is to qualify as many athletes for these running events as we can. We believe that our program can become a program that runners know is where they can take running to the top of their ability.”