 "Photo: Loyola Athletic Department/Steve Woltmann")
Some teams in other sports have nicknames for star duos, trios or teams, such as “Thunder and Lightning,” “The Four Horsemen” or “The Big Red Machine.” But if Loyola ever decided to continue that tradition for the track and field team, they’d have their work cut out for themselves after the Horizon League Indoor Track and Field Championships.
First for the men, the pairing of senior throwers Michael Jarman and Erik Hernandez, dubbed by members of the Phoenix as “Thunder and More Thunder,” continued their incredible performances this season. On the first day of the competition, Jarman decimated all other runners in the weight throw competition by almost two meters. Then on the second day, Hernandez rallied from his poor performance the day before in the weight toss with an impressive showing in the shot put.
“In track, especially in the field events, it is important to have a short term memory with the negative stuff,” he said. “The weight was my secondary event to the shot put so it wasn’t too hard for me to forget about it and get ready to throw the shot.”
The Rambler’s other big duo, sophomore Devin Gosberry and junior Nicole Noelliste, finished 1-2 in both the 200m and 400m events as well as anchoring the 4x400 relay team along with sophomores Brianna Walker and Sophia Holy that beat the next closest team, Milwaukee, by six full seconds. Because of her efforts, Gosberry was named the Athlete of the Meet.
“We had a few disappointments but for the most part we performed very well. Both Brianna Walker and Devin Gosberry broke records on what is considered to be a ‘slow track’ by track and field standards. It was amazing to watch,” Noelliste said.
The pair led the women’s side to a third-place finish overall, backed by Walker’s school-record time in the 60m dash (7.76) to nab second in the race, two strong runners in the 800m event (junior Caitlin Ferry and freshman Kelly Egan) and a good showing in both the 5K and 3K by senior Genevieve Binnie.
The men’s fifth place finish, however, left some on the team looking for more, despite great individual efforts.
Loyola placed well in the 400m, putting three athletes in the top six, led by freshman Mike Wetzel’s third-place, followed closely by junior Ramunas Stanciaskas and senior Ricky Headrick. Sophomore distance runners Danny Docherty and Josh Stein both also finished in the top five in the mile and the 3K respectively.
“Overall the men did OK,” said Hernandez, “We had some great performances in Josh Stein and Michael Jarman most notably, but we had some spots where we should have gotten more points, so that was disappointing. The women had to feel great about their showing — they really did a nice job.”
Next weekend both teams will participate in the Alex Wilson Invitational in Notre Dame, Ind., before a select few athletes end their indoor season against national competition in the NCAA Championships. Only the top 15 in the nation in each race get to participate, and Noelliste and Gosberry have already been selected to participate.
“I think we have the talent to do well on the National Level, I think Devin Gosberry in particular has the ability to become an indoor All American this year,” said Noelliste of her teammate. “As for me, I think I will be a good competitor, I am using this indoor season to strengthen me for my outdoor pet event, the 400 hurdles.”
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