The State of A-State: Track and Field

JONESBORO, Ark. (KAIT) – The 2024 track and field season for Arkansas State saw the men finish second in the Sun Belt Conference Championships and the women fifth. Director of track and field Dr. Jim Patchell says youth played a big part in this season.

“Out of 90 kids on the roster, between 60 and 70 were freshmen and sophomores, a lot of talent, but to win championships, you have to have senior leadership and veterans with experience. And we didn’t have that, and we knew going in. And you know, we just had to develop these kids. And they develop nicely their first year. And so we got those kids with the year under their belt being Division One athletes, which is a big deal. You have to learn how to manage it,” stated Patchell.

Even with a young team, the Red Wolves sent seven athletes to the NCAA West Preliminary rounds, four punched their ticket to the NCAA Track and Field Championships, and five were chosen to be All-Americans. Eight athletes combined to win 13 Sun Belt Championships in the indoor and outdoor season.

“Having those all Americans, you know high school kids and even other kids in the country on other teams, watch the national championship, and they know who’s there, and they know what programs in school. So obviously success breeds success, and anytime you have kids on the national stage like that, it only helps your program.”

Now it’s about retooling. Arkansas State has had a busy off-season adding more depth to an already deep team. Not just high school students, but dipping into the transfer portal.

“We’ve never actually went in and said, Hey, we’re going to base our recruiting on the transfer portal. We like to recruit high school kids and develop them, and that’s how you get cohesion in your team and you can string together long term success that way. I think you can supplement that with the transfers. And that’s kind of what we’ve been doing this year. And so we’ve kind of had to switch our strategy a little bit with the changing landscape in college athletics, because we don’t want to be left behind.”

But Coach Patchell believes this team can get back to winning championships this season.

“I think we’re back, we’ve got our footing under a stand, we’re a little more experienced and our team is still young but a little bit older. And so we need to be competing that championship again, I think we can, two or three championships this year I think that’d be a successful year.”

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