Rowan men’s track and field is back in action for the outdoor spring season. Over the past two weeks, the field athletes have participated in the Myrtle Beach Collegiate Challenge and the Emory Spring Break Challenge in Atlanta.
In Myrtle Beach on March 8, Demetrius Hester tallied one of the best throws in Division III this season at 60.97m in the javelin event. In Atlanta, Ian Bain won the discus at 44.44m. Josh Caudill set two personal records with a 42.98m throw in the hammer and a 14.23m throw in the shot put. Chris Guerrieri placed second in the shot put at 14.44m.
“We see a great start,” head coach Dustin Dimit said. “The javelin guys opened up with a couple marks that might get them into nationals right away. Josh [Caudill] went out there and had season bests in all his throws in Georgia and the other guys had decent openers too, and we won the discus in the meet in Georgia. It’s a good start for sure, and we’re trying to set the tone for what we’re going to do the rest of the year.”
Rowan sees themselves as a threat to take home the national title this season, as they placed third in the 2023 outdoor season and have a returning squad that looks to be a top team in the nation.
“We feel like we can. We were third last year, and we returned most of our team. We think we’ll have around 20 to 25 entries into national championships,” Dimit said. “La Crosse won indoors with 27 entries, so they’ll be a hard team to beat. That was one of the highest scores anyone has ever scored indoors, so they’ll be very good. I think we can mix it up and be top three with a chance to win with them being our main competition.”
In the transition from the indoor to the outdoor season, there are new events and longer distances to conquer this spring. The Profs will look for their indoor All-Americans and National Final participants to lead the team to the promised land.
“I was pretty happy with my performance,” Jason Agyemang said. “I went out there, stayed focused, and did what I had to do. I went out there and handled business, I felt great since we landed, and I was ready to run since we got there.”
Agyemang was one of the All-American performers during the indoor season in the 60m hurdles, and he’s determined to pick up right where he left off for outdoor competition.
“My personal goal is to break 14 in the 110, 50 or 51 in the 400 hurdles,” Agyemang said. “And doing whatever I can do to help out the team, especially in the 4×4.”
Up next for the Profs is the Oscar Moore Invitational at Coach Richard Wackar Stadium in Glassboro. The runners will be performing in this one, but possible rain could deter the intensity and quality of performance in this meet.
“It depends on the weather,” Dimit said. “If it rains all day, we’ll go out and have a nice ice breaker of getting used to different events like going from the 60 to the 100, the 110 hurdles, the 400 hurdles, and a lot of things that we didn’t have indoors. Looking to go out and win events, just starting off right. Just like indoors, we expect to run our fastest near the end of the year. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a couple [of] marks get into nationals because of how good our hurdlers and some of the other guys are.”
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