As the new year begins, so does the 2015 season for the most storied sport on campus: the Bisons and Lady Bisons track and field teams. Boasting hundreds of All-Americans and individual national champions, head coach Steve Guymon and the track teams hope to carry their legacies of excellence into the 2015 campaign.
The Lady Bisons are led by senior distance runner Ewa Zaborowska, a three-time All-American who holds the school record in the mile and recently broke her own school and Lone Star Conference record in the 3,000 meter in her first meet of the year at the Birmingham Southern Indoor Icebreaker, with a time of 9:30.66, easily qualifying for indoor nationals in March.
The Lady Bisons will also look to senior miler Dallis Bailey, junior hurdler and quarter-miler Sarah Coleman and junior middle-distance runner Tammy Kim to make big strides in 2015.
“One of the goals for the team this year is for everyone to beat their own personal records,” Coleman said. “As long as we are getting better and faster than our previous best, we’re improving.”
Bailey, who was an Academic All-District performer in 2014, said that the team tries to use the indoor season as a stepping stone for outdoors later in the year.
“Conference is a pretty obvious goal we set every year,” Bailey said. “So we like to use the indoor season to prepare for the outdoor conference meet, which is our biggest goal each year. Even though we’re in a really tough conference, I think we can compete really well this year.”
On the men’s side, the Bisons have talent across the board and expect to receive contributions in multiple events.
Leading the way are throwers, junior Josh Syrotchen, the Harding record holder in the discus, who looks to build on a strong 2014 campaign which saw him take home Outdoor All-American honors in the discus, and senior Ryan Cagle, who took sixth place in the shotput at the 2014 Lone Star Conference Championship meet.
The Bisons will also look to senior miler Taylor Lively, who won his first race of the year at the Arkansas State Kickoff Classic in December, and junior sprinter Corey Bassett, the school record holder in the 60 meter and 100 meter dash, to challenge in their respective events. Cagle said that despite having so many different people in different events, the cohesion of the team is strong.
“When it comes to culture and interaction, its something harder to have in track than other sports because we all focus on our own events most of the time,” Cagle said. “Coach Guymon does a really good job of helping the team come together in crucial times. His personality encourages cohesion. At all the meets we cheer each other on, even if it isn’t our event. That’s something you don’t see from every school.”
The idea of cohesion as one unit exists throughout the program on both the men’s and women’s teams.Bailey said that a lot of that comes from Guymon and the way he leads the team.
“There’s definitely a different dynamic here, which comes from having so many different athletes and events,” Bailey said. “But coach Guymon really encourages us to get to know each other outside of our individual events. Being so diverse makes it more fun.”
The first meet of 2015 will be on Jan. 25 at the Emory Crossplex Invitational in Birmingham, Ala.
