Indoor track heads to N.C. for first of three meets

By Anna Biondolillo | Sports writer

The Augusta University indoor track and field team will compete in the Tryon Winter Classic in Mill Spring, N.C., on Jan. 16 and 17.

Distant runner Avery Jaynes is coming off a Peach Belt record in the 3,000 meters in Winston-Salem, N.C., last month. The graduate student ran the 3K in eight minutes, 11.74 second and met the NCAA Division II provisional standard to qualify for the indoor nationals.

“It hasn’t hit me yet that this will be last season as a jaguar since i went through all those emotions last outdoor season,” said the Brooklet (Ga.) runner. “Not knowing if I was coming back, I think I’ll feel it more as the season starts to come to a close.

“When I first came here, I never would have thought that this is how anything would have played out, making connections and competing at this level, and that just shows how special this team and university are. And I wouldn’t trade my time here for anything in the world.”

This weekend’s meet is the first of three in Mill Springs. The other two will be held Jan. 30 and Feb. 13-14. Some members of the team will compete in Boston on that latter date. After that, the AU teams will compete in the Peach Belt indoor championship in Gainesville, Fla., on Feb. 23.

Jaynes became AU’s first all-American in track last spring when he placed fifth in the 10,000 meters in the outdoor nationals in Colorado. Jaynes said his goals for indoor season are “wanting to get faster” and quality for the nationals in the 3,000 and 5,000.

Overall, AU coach Jacob Burgamy is satisfied with his team’s performance in this the Jaguars’ first-ever indoor season.

“Everyone’s adapting well,” he said. “Everyone is excited to have more races, which is important. We had a shorter break in between cross-country and indoor track. Normally track doesn’t compete until late February, so they’re excited to start competing sooner than normal.”

In addition to Jaynes and fellow distance runner Nasrudin Mohamed, Burgamy looks forward to the performances of Gabe Carson in the 200, and Seth Eye and Oscar Curry in the 1,500. Eye is also trying to qualify for the nationals in the 800. Sprinters Kobe Mitchell and Chris Hart are looking promising as well.

On the women’s side, the standout has been distance runner Madison Thomas, who was the Peach Belt runner of the year in cross-country, and Josabeth Graciano, who is impressing her coach. Burgamy is also looking for big things from 400-meter runner Thanna Davis and jumper Janiya England.

“We have a lot of people who are doing really well, but I expected them to do this well, so I’m not surprised,” said Burgamy.

Note: At the top of the page, AU’s Avery Jaynes (4) shows the stride that led to an all-American outdoor season last year, the first national honor in the history of the program.

Contact Anna Biondolillo at ABIONDOLILLO@augusta.edu.