Marshall Track & Field Ready for Sun Belt Conference Indoor Championships

 By Ben Anderson


    The long-awaited Sun Belt Conference Indoor Championships has finally arrived for the Marshall Thundering Herd Track & Field team. Last season, the Thundering Herd made plenty of noise with four gold medals coming from the talents of the most decorated athlete in program history Kylee Mastin, along with two silver medals, and two bronze medals. Senior thrower Markayla Moore said that the team attitude that Director Keith Roberts pushes for is what leads to the team’s success.


    I think he's really big on making sure we know to not count yourself out,” Moore said in an interview with First & Ben. “Like remember who you are and bring the energy, bring the cheers. He always says, maybe if you didn't do what you wanted to do in your event, go cheer on somebody else so they can do it.”


    Moore, has been on a tear for the Thundering Herd this season, having the 2nd-best mark in the Sun Belt Conference and 2nd best in program history in the women’s weight throw at 19.74m. Moore said that the main focus at the meet is trusting in the system. 


    “We're just going to trust ourselves,” Moore said. “Know that we worked hard to get here and really just trust our training and trust the process and see where it takes us.”


    The men’s team, now in its fourth season of competition, has slowly grown into championship contenders with the athletes of the past building the foundation, to the talent of today leading the charge, which is something that stands out to jumper Cole Miller. 


    “There's a lot of names that you don't hear about.” Miller said in an interview with First & Ben. “Across the board, there's an endless list of guys that are just going to compete and going to be great. It's really cool to see across the board people that don't necessarily get mentioned, but just people that could sneak into a final and score points and be big impact people, but don't necessarily get noticed.”


    Miller said that it is crucial for the jumpers to start strong in order to build momentum for the rest of the team.


    “We have such a large group of athletes,” Miller said. “We're good all the way around. Long jumps always the first one, so we got to come out, set the tone, jump well, and let triple, high jump, all the other jump groups, feed off of it.”


    Moore said that its special to be a captain on the squad and that she is ready to help the underclassman at the meet. 


    I just remind the lower classmen that I've been there.” Moore said. “Everything you're feeling, I felt before. You might not be throwing as far as you want to right now, but it'll come, it'll happen. Your time is coming. And I think it's just a good reminder that, hey, I was right here in your shoes and now they're looking up to me and they're telling me how good of a job I'm doing. And I'm like, this will be you eventually.”


    The Thundering Herd aim to carry all of the momentum from the indoor season into the Sun Belt Conference Indoor Championships with the intention of bringing a championship home to Huntington West Virginia.


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