Track and field consists of four throwing events, four jumping events and various races. This sport is not like the rest, instead of being a “team sport,” it is considered an individual sport. Yet, in the long run the team wins as a whole.

Frank Dauncey is the track and field coach here at EvCC, this is his second year coaching and his first year as a head coach for the team. Dauncey’s passion for track and field started in his early years, he ran through-out high school and college. He started coaching once he graduated from college, and after he retired from Boeing he began to coach full time. With the help of two assistant coaches Melodie McFadden and Mike Davis they manage to get their team of 35 athletes ready for competition.

The team consists of ten women and twenty men, the other five athletes are not eligible to participate for various reasons including injuries. Most of the athletes participate in two events, they get to choose between throwing a discus, javelin, hammer, shot put, or doing the long jump, triple jump, high jump, and the pole vault. As well as running sprints, middle-distance, long-distance, hurtles. In other words, as Coach Dauncey describes it, “a test of the human spirit.”

Our team appears to be weaker when pinned against other teams. This is due to the fact that we have less athletes but our athletes get more out of the resources we have to offer. Regardless of it all it has been a great season. Their next meet will be at Western Washington University on Saturday, April 25th at the Civic Field. This round they will have a full squad to compete with. This is very important sense every individual athlete counts, “you can’t hide among your teammates, if you are having a bad day your teammates can’t pick it for you” Coach Dauncey. Even though the team does not receive so much funding, head Coach Dauncey is thankful for the resources they do have and the great coaches he was able to bring in to help him run the team.

The EvCC Track team’s practice can range from one hour and a half to four hours depending on the day. “If you ask any of my athletes they will probably tell you that my program is the hardest they have ever been in,” they usually warm up, do drills, do the main work out, cool down and do more drills, sometimes they do weights. They practice Monday through Saturday depending on whether or not they have a meet that day.

The 35 individuals are not only teammates, they are a family. They joke around with one another, Coach Dauncey himself uses sarcasm to motive the team during competition, but most importantly they are there for each other. They follow their motto or as they know it “rule number one and rule number two.” The most rewarding part of all is that when they succeed in the track, they also succeed outside of it.