The men’s indoor track team performed its last regular season meet of the indoor season Saturday, Feb. 8 at the Jim Wuske Invitational hosted by the University of Mount Union. 

The meet served as the athletes’ final opportunity to see where they rank in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference before they go head to head with the other PAC schools in two weeks.

For senior Michael Trax, the meet went well for both track and field events. 

“[In] the jump area, we had some more improvements. I know the track did really well, some records were broken,” Trax said.

One of the main highlights of the meet was freshman  Eric Townsend breaking Waynesburg’s 200-meter dash record. The record was five years old and previously held by Mark Minjock [‘14], at a time of 23.09 seconds. 

Townsend smashed the record with a time of 23.06 seconds, which was good enough for 10th overall. The one word he used to describe how he felt; “tired.”

It was a long day for Townsend. 

Before competing in the 200-meter dash, Townsend also ran in the 60-meter dash, long jump and triple jump. He placed 11th in the 60-meter dash, second in long jump and ninth in the triple jump.

As of right now, Townsend is ranked to score points in all four of these events at the PAC championship meet. This, along with other star performances, could help the men’s team move up in the conference at this year’s championships. 

Last year, the squad fifth overall, but Trax said this year they’re

“shooting for third.”

But, senior Kaleb McDiffitt said it’s going to be “very very close.” 

The next two weeks of the season serve as off-weekends where the team will be able to recover, rest and train before the big meet in two weeks. It’ll help the team catch up with where they’re behind. 

“I think in some areas we might be a little bit behind, but we’ll catch up in those two weeks we have off,” Trax said. “I think it’ll put us in a better spot than we were before.”

McDiffitt said the two weeks will be beneficial for everyone and will make the team stronger, as this will be their first and only off-weekends during the season.

“I think we’ll finally be at full strength, after these two weeks off,” McDiffitt said. “Everyone will be able to recover nicely.”