Track team achieves sky high results at AFA meet

The UCCS Track team had its second competition of the year Friday, Jan. 15 at the Air Force Academy. For some the event was about succeeding in only their first or second collegiate race; for others it was about gaining confidence and getting back into racing.

The meet opened up with the mile. Junior Kaitlin Frier was the lone contestant wearing black and gold, and she was keyed up going into the race. "I was so nervous, I felt like I had never raced before, but I was excited too since Corey and I have been doing a lot of things right with my training."

Frier's nerves and energy did not let her down. Correctly executing the game plan helped guide her to a 10th place finish against many Division I athletes. "I finally got my confidence back!" exclaimed Frier after the race. Coach Corey Kubatzky was also pleased. "It was a good first meet effort."

For some members of the highly touted freshman class, the race was a chance to adjust to college racing. Middle distance specialist Kassie Mazzocco commented, "In high school people baby you, but in college you are expected to know what to do."

Fellow middle distance runner Jon Christian also noticed a difference. "It will take a while to get used to the speed."

The best performance of the day for the Mountain Lions came in the 800m run, placing two women and two men in the top six against some stiff competition. Spirits appeared to be high after the race. As Senior Alex Vasquez pointed out, "We were three seconds ahead of last year, and if we keep that up we will automatically qualify for nationals."

"I think this is a good first race. It wasn't our best; we will continue to do better," added Senior women's Captain Tracy Falsetto. Junior Chris Reynolds explained that to continue to improve, "the key is staying healthy and training smart; because when you run smart the times will take care of themselves."

After all was said and done, the meet was a good way to start off the season. "I thought we competed well," offered Kubatzky. From here, he indicated, the task is to continue to train hard and prepare for the upcoming meets which may allow the men's and women's teams to build on these first performances.