Track & Field Competes at GSC Championship
The Choctaws secured 4th after two days of intense competition.
The Mississippi College Choctaws track and field teams both placed 4th at the GSC Indoor Track & Field Championships held in Birmingham, Alabama from February 15-16. The teams secured multiple lifetime bests, event wins, and national qualifying marks against some of the best competition in the south.
With a key injury to standout performer Grayson Foster, several Choctaws were required to step up more than they had before. Head Coach Joe Snyder was pleased with the team's overall performance.
“I was really happy with how we competed,” said Snyder. “I think we’re missing a few pieces, but as a whole we’re growing a lot as a team, and I’m super happy with the way they competed. We talk a lot about what it means to compete F.R.E.E., which stands for fearless, relaxed, engaged, and enthusiastic, and I really think athletes are beginning to understand that concept, which is going to bring out the best in our performance.”
The Choctaws instill the meaning of competing F.R.E.E. to all facets of competition, including the throwing events. The throwers saw two conference champions in the shot put and weight throw through Bryan Puckett and James David Miller, respectively. Fellow Choctaw Steven Conrad secured second place in both of those events as well.
“We’re just like one big family,” Puckett said. “We go out to eat together, we hang out all the time. These guys have been my brothers ever since I got on campus.”
Puckett secured the win in the shot put event with a mark of 17.22 meters, a feat that “It was crazy,” Puckett said. “Me and Coach knew this was a possibility, and even a year ago I felt like I could have won it, but the feeling of doing it is surreal.”
Girls’ school record holder in the 3,000 meter run, Taylor Benoit, took third in one of the deepest fields in the meet. “It was definitely interesting and very fun,” Benoit said. “No one made any moves, which made the first 1k feel very relaxed. At that point, someone began to push the pace, and it was time for the race to really start. Coach Webber encouraged me that I belonged in the top three, and so with 400 to go, I made a gear change and gave it everything I had and ended up third. It was an incredible feeling, racing with some very talented girls and getting this opportunity.”
Benoit later went on to anchor a DMR team that placed second at the meet. She also ran as the third leg in a 4x400 that placed third. Benoit walked away with three medals on the day.
For Benoit, though, the weekend wasn’t about the medals. “Recently, my goals have just been to enjoy the moment and the gift of running rather than my performance,” Benoit said. “I feel like I executed that, and it makes these races so much more meaningful to me.”
Senior distance captain Christian Balcer competed in three events over the weekend, securing two third place finishes and a ninth place finish in the 800, which he did from the slowest heat.
In order to mentally and physically prepare for races, Balcer attempts to approach them one at a time. “I took it race by race,” Balcer said. “I solely focused on the DMR leg on Thursday, and didn’t think about the other events until after it was finished. It’s not until I cooled down from that first race that I began to think about the mile the next day.”
As a four year member of the team, Balcer admires that his teammates celebrate each individual's wins. “We’re always there for each other,” Balcer said. “I think we’re very good at celebrating people regardless of their spot on the team. Maybe someone didn’t make a final but they PR’d – that’s something we celebrate and something I think is pretty special about our culture.”
Other Choctaw standouts included Damone Daniels, who won the long jump; Hilary Udechukwu, who won the women’s 400 and set a school record; Davion Smith, who scored in both the 60m and the 200m; and Evan Wrights, who anchored the GSC championship 4x400 team and placed second in the 800, as well as running the 800 leg on the national qualifying men’s DMR. These performances, along with several other scoring and podium performances, gave the Choctaws something to build on as the team approaches the outdoor season.
“It’s really just taking the focus off of yourself and your performance and thinking of it as a way to glorify God with the gifts that he’s given us,” Coach Snyder said. “Looking outside yourself and putting your absolute best attitude and effort into everything you do, those are two things that you can control, and you can never be disappointed if you do those two things.”
The Choctaws will begin their outdoor season on Saturday, March 1 with a home opener beginning at 8 a.m.
 | A guest post by
|