Rowan men’s indoor track and field set a school record and a lifetime best at the FastTrack Last Chance Meet in Staten Island on Friday, Feb. 23.
Distance runner Scott Hubbard broke a 27-year-old standing record for the mile run, clocking in at a time of 4:11.05, breaking the mark of 4:11.30 set by Sean Mick in 1997.
“I think it’s a big milestone,” Hubbard said. “It’s showing some good progress for me because it was also a pretty big PR for not only the season, but lifetime. I think it shows that the next step would be to go under the 4:10 barrier, and I’m right there so it’s cool to see how close it is, and that it’s achievable.”
Hubbard’s performance earned him the title of New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Track Athlete of the Week, which is well deserved for breaking a record older than himself. His mark in the mile also put him in the top 50 times for Division III.
“It definitely means something because it’s a nice award and it’s an honor, but I am focused on regionals this week, and ideally nationals next week. We’re trying to go for the DMR (Distance Medley Relay) and the 800 individually to qualify for nationals. It’s an honor for sure, but I’m definitely set on nationals and regionals.”
Even with a great time, his mark in the Last Chance Meet itself will not be enough to get him into nationals. He still has regionals this week to try and qualify.
“It would be on a flat track but with these conversions, it won’t get in, unfortunately,” Head Coach Dustin Dimit said. “We’re gonna go after the DMR this week and he’s running the mile leg in that, and then he’ll have a chance to qualify in the 800 the next day, which with the conversion on a flat track, would be right there to get him into nationals. We feel he has a good shot of getting in in one of those.”
Hubbard thinks he could’ve raced even better in this one, and that maybe he got in his own head before the race started. That may be hard to believe as he broke his PR and the school record, but he had a negative split in the race, meaning he ran faster in the second half than the first half.
“I think in that race I should have been around 4:10, 4:09, or 4:08,” Hubbard said. “But I think before the race I psyched myself out because I’ve been trying to go at sub-4:10 for a while, it’s been a goal forever, and it’s a little scary to go for it and hit that number. I think I just psyched myself out beforehand, I have a tendency of racing in not the proper way, and I negatively split that race, so that leaves room for improvement for next time.”
The Prof’s next challenge will be the All-Atlantic Regional Track & Field Conference Championships, which take place this Friday and Saturday, but Dimit and the rest of the team have their eyes set on Nationals the following week. This event is more for cleaning things up and staying ready for next week.
“We have Amara [Conte] not running, but most of the other guys are,” Dimit said. “Just Amara and Jacob [Riley] aren’t running, everybody else is doing something, not necessarily their regular event but they’re doing something to sharpen up. They might run the prelims and not finals, or only take three long jumps. Just the little things to sharpen and work on to make sure we’re ready for next week.”
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