Track Program Still Evolving Under Bennett
3/4/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field
March 4, 2004
In four years at Wake Forest, Coach Annie Schweitzer Bennett has worked to broaden and strengthen the track and field programs. There have been successes with individual accomplishments, but Bennett strives to give Wake Forest and the young men and women who chose to compete here a more diverse experience.
On the women's side injuries have hampered this year's progress. At the recently held ACC Indoors, the women placed a disappointing seventh. Yet sophomore Lindsey Neuberger broke the school record in shot put and was named All-ACC. Nikeya Green, a senior, won the 800 meter. But as the outdoor season fast approaches, Bennett wants her team to get healthy and shoot for more.
"On the women's side, we've had kind of a year of injuries for a number of different reasons, and we're disappointed with that," Bennett said. "Now our main goal is to get our All-ACC people up and running again. We finished two points out of sixth in the indoor conference meet with two good scorers sitting on the sidelines, so we plan to have them back for the outdoor meet and make top half (of the league)."
There are a number of athletes who could emerge as the season progresses, but Anne Bersagel and Green head the group. Bersagel has been scoring her entire career at Wake Forest and is on track to be one pf the best ever at Wake Forest. Last year in track, she was an All-American in the 10,000 meters and received Academic All-America honors. Green was All-ACC and All-America in the 800 meters.
Green captured the 800-meter title with a time of 2:06.69 and was nearly two seconds faster than North Carolina's Alice Schmidt. She has three NCAA provisional qualifying times in the 800 meter this season and is one of the most decorated athletes in Wake Forest track and field history. Green is a four-time All-American and has now been named All-ACC four different times in the 800 meter.
"Annie Bersagel is always a quiet leader and does a tremendous job of showing people how to compete," Bennett said. "With Nikeya Green it's the same thing, and they're constants for us. Green made a tremendous step in her career at the ACC Indoors by winning. But more than winning, the person she beat had shown few flaws, been a runner that had never broken down, never shown any weakness. It was more a mental toughness because the girl she beat is a two-time NCAA champion who was as ready to go as Nikeya was. But Nikeya is now a compete package and can run from the front, the back from the side. We have a lot of good leadership with Lindsay Neuberger, a sophomore, and across the board in our throws, our middle distance and our distance we're covered. We have some freshmen that are coming around in sprints."
Neuberger set a new Wake Forest shot put record at the ACC Championships with a distance of 51'-01.50" and placed second overall, earning All-ACC recognition. This marks the third All-ACC nomination in the shot put for Neuberger.
The women's program is more solid this year because Bennett has been a constant over the past four years. With the men, there have been several coaching changes, which Bennett says, is the primary reason for the state of the program.
"We're happy with our staff, but we feel like on the men's side we're behind on the recruiting classes just having the coaching changes we've had in four years. So we're spending lots of time on men's recruiting. We feel we have some good individuals, but we just don't have enough depth.
"Maybe the reason they (the coaches) left was because they didn't have the right philosophy or the right recruiting class for Wake Forest. But the numbers are down, and the quality is down, so that's what we're really looking at. The men have always had a strong front on the distance side, and we have a few good individuals, but we don't have the front that we want to have."
Scott Hall has joined the Wake Forest staff as the assistant director of track and field. He comes from the University of Northern Colorado where he coached the women's cross country team for nine years and was the director of the track and field program.
"We have a lot of young athletes in the distant areas and we need to get more experience and learn to compete when it counts," Hall said. "We have to develop some more consistency and just be smarter away from training by getting proper rest and adequate medical attention."
A bright spot for the men is Mike Loyd, a Winston-Salem and Mount Tabor High School product, transferred to Wake Forest after competing at the University of Florida. According to Bennett, Loyd wanted a more diverse role on a team and gets the chance to be part of more events at Wake Forest. Loyd has shown the discipline and competitive drive that both Bennett and Hall like. They hope it's contagious for this year's squad and want more athletes with the same philosophy on their team as the program rebuilds.
At the ACC Indoors, Loyd was second overall in the 60-meter hurdles and fourth in the 200-meter dash. But key performers will have to emerge to help Wake Forest compete in the tough ACC this season.
"It's a mixed bag this year, but Mike Loyd has sure brought us a lot of leadership, a lot of desire," Bennett said. "He decided this was maybe a better fit for him academically, and athletically and he's come back and is running his personal best. But more importantly, academically he's making a name for himself on campus.
He's really challenged our team to step up to the plate. Coming from a program like Florida, they won the SEC, and he went to Mount Tabor, so he's used to being in a lot of winning programs. At the ACC Indoors we had a couple of guys who had the flu and chose not run them because they had missed some training time. Now we need them to step up and make some scoring positions."
"We have to realize the ACC is getting more competitive so we have to get better and better athletes or seek a faster level of improvement if we're going to stay in the top half (of the league), Hall said. "We have some people here with some ability, but have to get them to step forward and become better competitors."
Bennett feels that it will take "a good four years" to get the men's program back up and running with a strong talent pool, but in the meantime would like to keep developing talent. With the cost of attending Wake Forest at about $35,000, scholarships are not split between athletes as they can be at other universities. So scholarship opportunities are carefully offered, and the number of athletes with which Bennett and Hall have to work is limited in comparison.
"The thing is, with the women we have the tools, but we just didn't perform up to the meet, and that's why it was disappointing to finish seventh (ACC Indoors)," Bennett said. "We have enough ammunition to be fifth; Maybe not higher than fifth, but enough to be fifth or sixth. With the men, we don't have enough ammunition right now."
Players Mentioned
