In the biggest and brightest spotlights, some people crack under the pressure. On the other hand, pressure may bring out the best in others. After all, pressure creates diamonds. The 725,000 pounds of pressure per square inch needed to yield the precious stones was on full display at the NCAA Atlantic Region Championship track meet hosted by Ithaca College.
For the Lakers, sprinter Shaniece Gregory rose to the occasion and had the race of her life. Gregory set a personal record in the 400-meter event, completing it in 59.28 seconds, which was good for seventh place. While head coach Evan Magnussen refuses to place added emphasis on championship meets, he understands that the aura surrounding them adds pressure to his team.
“At this [regionals] meet, there is definitely pressure, whether it’s applied by the athlete, myself or just the atmosphere, because it’s the last chance to get to nationals,” Magnussen said. “Some people really thrive in that, and Shaniece is one of those people where, if you put her in a pressure cooker, she is going to run well, and she showed that on Saturday.”
Gregory’s new personal record shaved half a second off her previous best, according to Magnussen, and was over three seconds better than her first 400-meter race at the beginning of the indoor track season. While Gregory was the stand out of all the Oswego State athletes competing this past weekend at the regionals event, Magnussen was very happy with the overall performance of his team.
“Everyone else showed up and did what they were supposed to do,” Magnussen said. “And I don’t mean showed up as in, ‘they were there.’ They competed, reacted to what was going on around them. They made the best of the opportunity they were given.”
One of these competitors was Carly Vreugde, who has already set several program records this season. The junior sprinter finished fifth in the 400-meter event with a time of 58.93 seconds, which is within 1.5 seconds of her personal best. Vreugde had the best finish among all Lakers, as only one other finished in the top-five. Joining her on the podium was Sarah Yensan, who soared to a fifth-place finish in the long jump. Her leap of 5.45 meters at regionals was just behind her personal best of 5.64 meters which, she achieved at the outdoor track and field regional championship last May.
While Magnussen was satisfied with his team’s performance, he has been much happier with their overall growth from the start of his coaching tenure back in the spring of 2017.
“Nick [LeClair], when I first met him, he was coming out of a situation where he was always second best to Ben Griffin [who was an All-American],” Magnussen said. “Now, [Nick] consistently runs in the low 1:57 [for the 800-meter]. … We would say in terms of time Saturday was a ‘bad day,’ but it is good to see his ‘bad day’ would’ve been his best day previously.”
LeClair’s “bad day” saw him run a 1:58.33, which is only one second off his best mark during the indoor track season. This goes to show how LeClair has changed and improved over the last few seasons as a Laker.
Although the athletes hit their marks at regionals, some were not satisfied with just reaching expectations. Tim Olmsted finished in 17th place in the 3,000-meter with a time of 8:52.36, but he wanted more.
“I set a goal to get the school record,” Olmsted said. “I went out on pace, but it was very difficult and I fell out at the end.”
The current program record in the 3,000-meter is 8:39.02, which is held by Jeffrey Beck. While Olmsted missed out on the record by 13 seconds, his Laker career is one to be proud of. As a senior, he has raced in several regional meets aside from the indoor track one back on March 1 and 2. He excelled this past cross country season, setting a personal best in the 6k and racing at the cross country regional championship. Olmsted still has one season left as a Laker this spring and throughout all this time, his goal will remain the same.
“I just want to P.R. every time I run. I don’t have a lot of races left, so I just want to run as fast as possible,” Olmsted said.
Graphic by: Shea McCarthy | The Oswegonian
