Sports

ASU makes strides, sets bar at nationals

• Albany State’s men and women’s track and field teams continue to build for the future after the NCAA D-II meet.

Scott Chancey

ALBANY — The Albany State men’s outdoor track result of eighth at the NCAA Division II meet proved one thing — the Rams have potential after taking only four athletes.

“This was a very special season,” said Rams coach Marvin Oliver, who was named the South Region’s Indoor and Outdoor Coach of the Year. “We constantly hear from other people that we may not do well. It’s good to always be in the top 10 although our goal WAS to be in the top four.”

Now, the Rams say they just need a little more help, particularly in distance events.

Rodney Coley, Garrion Martin, Ronnie McGirt and Oladipo Adeshina are sprinters, and finished second in the 4x100 meters at Saturday’s national meet. Rodney Coley was second in the 200 and fourth in the 100, and Garrion Martin was sixth in the 200. The top eight in each final were named All-Americans.

Still, the results from having so few athletes at nationals proved something to Oliver.

“We have two powerful sprinters (Coley and Martin) and everyone there at the meet recognized that,” Oliver said.

Coley was part of the 2003 Americus High School track team and also was second in the national indoor 60. Coley, who with Martin was part of the 2005 4x100 national championship team, realizes how the program can grow from here.

“We need more runners from the 800 on to the 5,000,” Coley said. “We lacked bodies at nationals.”

The Albany State women, who won their fifth consecutive SIAC title, finished 17th at nationals. Estella Moore was sixth, equaling her personal best in the 100 and eighth in the 200, setting a personal best, and Roxie Griffin — while fighting a stomach virus — was fourth in the 400 and Tamika Kinchen was ninth in the 800, and the 4x400 placed sixth. The 4x100 was fifth.

“What Roxie did was amazing, given her condition,” said Lady Rams coach Kenneth Taylor, who was the conference and South Region Outdoor Coach of the Year. “She’s a gamer. She kept coming back for every event. Overall, we had a really good season. We had our ups and downs and, considering the fact that we didn’t have any throwers and only one legitimate high jumper, we had a really decent season.”

The memories now are what will last with Coley, who is a senior.

“I remember the car washes we did for trips, the car pools we did, eating at KFC on the road, it wasn’t easy,” Coley said. “But I qualified for nationals every year, so hopefully people when they walk through the hallways (in the HPER Gym) and see pictures of our team and what accomplished, they can look and say, ‘There’s Rodney Coley, who did some good things for Albany State.’ ”

Martin, who had the fastest 100 time but did not qualify for Saturday’s final, is still training with Coley for the Olympic Trials (Oliver said they needed times of 10.2 in the 100 and 20.4 in the 200 to qualify).

“It was a good experience,” said Martin, who also is a senior. “I remember the trips, the places we visited. It’s definitely been a good travel experience.”

Adeshina, who did not qualify for the 400 final, is one of the athletes who feels this year’s finishes are something the program can build upon.

“It makes you want to push the bar higher,” Adeshina said. “The expectation is to win, you’ve gotta win. Lacking distance runners was all we needed. If we have maybe one or two next year, that should help us a lot.”

McGirt could not agree more.

“We placed eighth with only four people,” McGirt said. “With more runners, we can get possibly third or fourth, or second or first. Who knows?”

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