Walsh Track Hoping to Learn From Rough Indoor Season

Walsh Track coach Rob Mizicko said his teams performance at the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Atheltic Conference (GLIAC) Indoor Championship Meet was an "eye opener."

"It was rough," Mizicko said. "It was our first year in the GLIAC. We’re not at the DII level."

In his first year as head coach, Mizicko was disappointed in both the men's and women's teams, neither placing in the Top 12 of the conference indoor championship.

But that's in the past and now he's moving his teams on to the spring season, where they can focus on weaknesses discovered over the winter.

"The amount of improvement shows our kids are already stepping up," Mizicko said. The better the competition, the better performances this team will give."

The men's team is led by a pair of distance running brothers, Justin and Jordan Groubert.

He said both performed well during the indoor season and look to get even better outside.

"Justin had an outstanding cross country season. He’s our top gun on the guys' side. His brother Jordan is running very, very well right now."

Jordan, a senior, grabbed two Top 20 finishes during the indoor championships finishing 13th in the 5,000 meters and 17th in the 1,600 meters. Justin, a sophomore, beat his brother in the 1,600 with a 10th place finish.

While there may be holes on the men's side, Mizicko said the women are more well balanced, featuring a "decent core of middle distance runners," he added.

Senior Allison Swarny, the team's top point-getter is returning, along with Sarah Martter in the 400 and 800 meters. 

Junior distance runners Lissa Yoder and Kelsey Dickey had great cross country seasons and "they’ll be competitive on the track as well."

Yoder finished 12th in the 5,000 meters at the indoor championships.

"It’s a building process," Mizicko said.

The team's focus is to improve performances so they can score more points in the outdoor championship meet.

"It’s going to be baby steps until we get into the level of the GLIAC; it won’t happen over night.

Recruiting will be a major component of that process. He said his staff needs to step up their recruiting to bring in more NCAA Division II athletes to compete at this level.

But while he's starting to look towards future athletes, Mizicko said he's still proud of the ones he has now.

"We have a great group of kids who do well academically and work very hard."