Track program begins its second year run
TJ Cotterill
Issue date: 4/10/09 Section: Sports
For a track program still in its infancy, high expectations are set from a coach who is determined to put Everett on the map.
Everett Community College will begin its second season with a track program led by head coach Matt Koenigs, who showed the school administration that he could pull support for a track team and use little money doing so.
Koenigs even coached the track team last season without pay from the school and developed two people from the men's team and one from the women's team into NWAACC All-Americans.
"Our coach is working really hard to improve this program," freshman 800-meter and 1500-meter runner Amanda Brager said. "Not even necessarily with track, like he helped us find apartments".
"He is just helping us all out so much," sophomore Mitch Elias, who participates in five different events, said. "If you need help with homework, if you need to find a job, if you need to find an apartment or somewhere to live or just anything," Elias added. "For him I don't think that it is the money at all. It's just he loves coaching".
Technically, this is a distance-running program because no team member runs an event less than the 800-meter dash.
Koenigs said that the idea for creating a track team came from most of the EvCC cross country runners.
"Teams that do well in cross country also have a track program," Koenigs said. "Cross country has been good the last couple of years including their best finish ever without having a track team." Koenigs added, "the success of our cross country program demonstrated to the administration that we should have a track program."
Along with Koenigs, the track team is also led by sophomore men's captain Mitch Elias who was an NWAACC All-American last year and participated in the 1500-meter, 3000-meter, 5000-meter, 10,000-meter, and the 3k Steeplechase, including a time of 10 minutes and 3.39 seconds in the Steeplechase at the NWAACC Championships last year.
The women's captain is sophomore Megan Hall who was also named a NWAACC All-American. Hall's specialty is the 5000-meter run, which she ran on March 14 and placed second with a time of 19:29.50. Last season Hall ran the 1500-meter, 3000-meter, 5000-meter, 10,000-meter and the 3k Steeplechase like Elias, including a time of 19:24.90 in the 5000-meter in the NWAACC Championships while also running the 10,000-meter in the NWAACC Championships where she posted a time of 41:13.30.
Everett Community College will begin its second season with a track program led by head coach Matt Koenigs, who showed the school administration that he could pull support for a track team and use little money doing so.
Koenigs even coached the track team last season without pay from the school and developed two people from the men's team and one from the women's team into NWAACC All-Americans.
"Our coach is working really hard to improve this program," freshman 800-meter and 1500-meter runner Amanda Brager said. "Not even necessarily with track, like he helped us find apartments".
"He is just helping us all out so much," sophomore Mitch Elias, who participates in five different events, said. "If you need help with homework, if you need to find a job, if you need to find an apartment or somewhere to live or just anything," Elias added. "For him I don't think that it is the money at all. It's just he loves coaching".
Technically, this is a distance-running program because no team member runs an event less than the 800-meter dash.
Koenigs said that the idea for creating a track team came from most of the EvCC cross country runners.
"Teams that do well in cross country also have a track program," Koenigs said. "Cross country has been good the last couple of years including their best finish ever without having a track team." Koenigs added, "the success of our cross country program demonstrated to the administration that we should have a track program."
Along with Koenigs, the track team is also led by sophomore men's captain Mitch Elias who was an NWAACC All-American last year and participated in the 1500-meter, 3000-meter, 5000-meter, 10,000-meter, and the 3k Steeplechase, including a time of 10 minutes and 3.39 seconds in the Steeplechase at the NWAACC Championships last year.
The women's captain is sophomore Megan Hall who was also named a NWAACC All-American. Hall's specialty is the 5000-meter run, which she ran on March 14 and placed second with a time of 19:29.50. Last season Hall ran the 1500-meter, 3000-meter, 5000-meter, 10,000-meter and the 3k Steeplechase like Elias, including a time of 19:24.90 in the 5000-meter in the NWAACC Championships while also running the 10,000-meter in the NWAACC Championships where she posted a time of 41:13.30.
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