“We’ll be ODAC (Old Dominion Athletic Conference) champions in three years,” said Director of Track and Field Operations and assistant cross country coach Bill Cason of the men’s track and field team as he straightened up in his chair and crossed his legs. “We handily beat Washington and Lee this year and they have a million dollar track and field facility!”In their first year of existence, the men’s track team finished sixth out of seven teams at the ODAC Indoor Championships and placed two runners on the All-Conference Team. The two runners are sophomore Derick Kosgei, who placed second in the 5000-meter and third in the one-mile run with a time of 4 minutes, 25.07 seconds, and first-year Quan Parker, who placed second in the long jump.

“The indoor season gave us a good bit of confidence,” said sophomore sprinter Trey Billian. “We know we can compete at that level.”

The women’s team did not place in the indoor championships because they did not have enough runners, but they made a mark nonetheless, placing junior Melloni Diem on the All-Conference Team after her ninth-place finish in the mile run.

“I felt the indoor season went well,” said Diem.

Looking toward the outdoor season, which started March 19 at the Wake Forest Open, Cason seemed confident.

“Our program is more geared towards outdoor competition right now,” said Cason.

Cason also pointed out the team’s inexperience, explaining that none of the Guilford track members had run college track and field before, so he was pleased with the results so far.

“We know we’ll be better for the outdoor,” agreed Billian.

It seems that both teams are anxious to prove something in the outdoor season.

“A lot of our girls got hurt during the indoor season, but now they’re healthy and working their butts off for the outdoor season,” Diem said.

Diem started the outdoor season running the 3000-meter in 11:37.81. Sophomore Kaycee Ingram also competed at Wake Forest, running the 800-meters in 3:15.61.

As for next year, Cason stressed recruiting.

“We’ll have better numbers for women next year,” said Cason. “This is our first full class and we’ve had success recruiting on the women’s side.”

“We’ll have a full team for next year,” said Diem. “We want to be top 10 at outdoor conferences next season.”

On the men’s side, Cason highlighted the partnership with the football team. Currently, nine members of the men’s track and field team are also members of the football team.

“We’re working with the football program to recruit football players who can also run track,” said Cason. “Track and field is the perfect mix of getting stronger and faster for football.”

Football players on the team include Parker, who ran the 100-meter dash at Wake Forest in 11.53 seconds, and junior Adrian Peter, who ran the 200-meter dash in 25.73 seconds.

Cason also mentioned experience gained, saying, “A year of experience is huge.”

“Everyone’s working hard and looking to get better,” said Billian.

Both the men’s and women’s teams came off a year in which they could not compete but began building a program from the ground up. They may not have won championships or brought home trophies, but the experience gained over the course of the season only points toward success in the near future.