Although unable to score as a team, the Guilford women’s track and field team completed an astonishing indoor season where athletes were breaking records almost every meet.

Throughout the indoor season, the women’s track and field team have been in competition with Division I and Division II athletes. However, this has not stopped them from their endeavors of enjoying the sport they love.

Senior Kayla Scott appreciates that the team knows how to turn every situation into a positive one.

“There is never a dull moment,” said Scott. “We are always having fun. No matter how embarrassing, what makes you feel the best is that our track team is the loudest bunch whenever someone is competing.”

Scott is one of several athletes who set personal records this season. In the Old Dominion Athletic Championships, she pulled together Guilford’s sixth-best long jump distance at 4.39 meters and a personal best 60-meter time of 8.66 seconds.

First-year Carmen Curtis surprised everyone with her drive for success this year. At the ODACs, she notched the second fastest 60-meter run in College history with 8.53 seconds, only .03 seconds away from the record time. She credits coach Marla Lindsay for her success this indoor season, saying she would not have been able to do it without her.

“Marla always told us, ‘don’t get too nervous,’ because the people we race are really fast,” said Curtis. “It’s the same as high school, I still get nervous. When I first got here, I was not going to do indoor.”

Veteran senior Sommer Fanney excelled in every indoor meet, lowering her time in the mile run and the 800-meter run. Although practicing under men’s track and field coach Danny Cash, she says she enjoyed coach Lindsay’s presence and drive for the team to improve. Fanney holds the top four times in College history in the mile run, lowering the standard to 5:23.84 in the ODAC championships.

“I’m very happy with my finish this year in the mile,” said Fanney. “In (the ODAC championships), I placed third. That was my ultimate goal. If I had thought about how the race could have gone, I might have been able to beat the two ahead of me.”

Coach Lindsay says the women’s performance is due to the cohesive and adaptive nature of the team. Their ability to help each other and pick things that need improvement is something that she is proud to see. For coach Lindsay, this is a step towards success for years to come.

“I go for excellence and we are going out here to set personal records,” said Lindsay. “I think we are setting the tone for the next group to come in. They want to shoot past these goals that I set for them. They have become a team of one and are definitely a different team from when we started out at the beginning of the season.”

The indoor season for the team is preparation for the outdoor season in the spring, where they have bigger goals. Lindsay says that even though it will continue to be hard to compete against bigger teams, that will not stop them from improving.

“I want them to go into the outdoor season as better athletes than where they were last year,” said Lindsay. “I am expecting a very interesting outdoor season. I try not to think about it because I will get too ambitious. I want them to stay humble and know we have a job to do. When we go fight Goliath, everyone has a little David in us.”

The women’s track and field team kicks off its outdoor season on March 16 when it heads to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte to compete in the 49er Classic.