This is the first time either team has done a mission trip, says Elliott Nott, the men’s coach. “They’re really excited – they’re really pumped up,” he says. “Service is something both Tracey (Murnane, women’s track coach) and I are interested in having our athletes involved in,” Nott says.
The men’s and women’s track teams will practice early in the morning and then work from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with Habitat. In addition to Nott and Murnane, accompanying the team will be Benj Ecker, a seminary student and team chaplain, and Rob Lowe, a seminary student and assistant coach.
The trip also will be educational. The teams will hear from the mayor of Clinton, Tennessee. Clinton High was the first school in the state years ago to desegregate following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling against segregation. Violence followed, which led to the National Guard policing the city.
Nott says the track teams will compete in a meet at Austin Peay University in Clarksville, Tennessee, on the return trip. He’s not expecting any records to be broken, with the team having worked all week. “We’re just trying to go have fun,” says Nott.
The trip will cost each athlete $150. Much of the money for the trip comes from half the proceeds of an event in December during which 21 members of the track and cross country teams raised funds by taking turns on treadmills for 24 hours. To read an account of that effort, please see Runners Push the Limits to Help Others.
The teams will leave the evening of March 12 and return March 18. They also will be traveling with the school’s rowing team, which will take the opportunity to get in some warm-weather practice as well.
Members of the men’s track team participating in the trip are Kevin Adams, Matt Cappetta, Aaron Clark, Luke Johnson, Don Fancher, Weston Gleffe, Matthew Shilling, Jon Wikholm, and James Williams.
Members of the women’s team are Ashley Edwards, Jessica Gilligan, Amy Peters, Juliann Plimpton, Liz Poczaski, Casandra Quiram, and Allison Weller.
Copyright © 2011 The Evangelical Covenant Church.
