“You have to have a certain element of masochism to put yourself through a sport that is the punishment for all other sports,” said sophomore sprinter and middle-distance runner Molly Anne Marcotte.

All sports are mentally and physically demanding, but track and field might be one of the least recognized and most physically demanding sports on campus.

“We run 60 to 70 miles a week on a non-race week, we exercise three times a week and I run about 5 to 10 miles a day depending on the workout,” said senior distance runner Andris Goncarovs.

It seems that all their hard work is paying off though, as the men’s and women’s track and field teams have been consistently breaking records.

“I think the highlight of the season so far has been the performance of Alex Martin,” said Sports Information Director Dave Walters. “(Martin) was named conference indoor track runner of the week and now holds the school record in the long jump, along with top times in the 60 meter dash and the 100 meter dash.

“These times are currently third fastest in the league.”

The men’s relay team beat the previous 4×400 record set back in 2011 by approximately 2 minutes.

For women’s track and field, Marcotte set the third fastest 5k time in school history in the Vince Brown Invitational on Feb. 8.

They still have their eyes on the prize with national and conference championships on the horizon.

“I really want to make nationals,” said first-year jumper and short-distance runner Alex Martin. “Nationals this year are in Winston, which is where I’m from. I’d love to go back there and just let the people back home know I’m doing well.

“For the team, we really want the conference championship. In the past, we haven’t reached that rank, and we’re hungry for it.”

The team only recently rejoined Guilford’s varsity roster after a 30-year hiatus.

“We’re a developing team,” said Goncarovs. “There was a while at Guilford where we didn’t have a track and field program, and it only recently started back up. It’s hard to recruit a team when you have no tradition.

“We’re starting to get some quality recruits in, which hasn’t been the case in previous seasons.”

There are, of course, the physical challenges of competitive running as well.

“When you’re in a race and you start to see people passing you, the biggest challenge is not giving up on yourself and remembering the capabilities of your body, even when it feels terrible,” said Marcotte.

“You can get to a point after the race where you can’t feel your legs.”

Finally, there is the challenge of making track and field a spectator sport at Guilford.

“I ran track in middle school and high school, and I enjoyed it, but I see how from a spectator’s perspective it could be dull,” said Shelton Watson, senior and football player. “It’s not fast-paced at all, and the meets can be as long as a day, but I do believe that if we had a track it would raise awareness of the sport, and it would get more people from the campus involved.”

If you would like to show your support for the men’s and women’s track and field teams, their next indoor meet takes place on Feb. 21 at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Old Dominion Athletic Conference Indoor Championships begin on March 1 in Landover, Maryland, and March 7 in Blacksburg, Virginia.