The Blue
Tribune
The Blue Tribune is your place to learn about all things Covenant and keep up with stories from campus and beyond. By guiding you through the different aspects of Covenant, we'll help you decide if you want to pursue your very own Covenant experience.
A Record-Breaking Season for Track and Field
āThe 2025 season has been a historical one for our program,ā says Coach Kaczinski, head coach of the Covenant Track and Field team. On both the men's and womenās teams, the season has been defined by the progress the team has made within the program. Track and Field first started at Covenant in 2017, and as Covenant works to raise money for its own track and field, the team is pushing itself to set new standards for athletes who will come after them. āThings that weāve been talking about with our program are beginning to seem realistic,ā states Coach Kaczinski. āGoals that we thought to be dreams are now becoming realities.ā
The indoor season began early, and so did the record-breaking. At the Birmingham Indoor Icebreaker, the season started strong with three school records and several performances that placed number two in the record books, including Josiah Mellott ā25, who ran a time of 5.54.21 in the 3000m for a new indoor school record. As the indoor season continued, over 12 more records were broken across event groups. Some of these indoor records included the 60m dash and triple jump, both broken by Emma Christensen ā25, long jump by Josephine Swinburnson ā28, mens and womens shot put by Codey Parrish ā28 and Sophia Wiersema ā26, weight throw by Cheney Byrd ā25, pole vault by Sarah Holler ā28, and mens and womens 5000m by Ethan Saiki ā27 and Evangelia Berry ā27 just to name a few.
The outdoor season began over spring break in Myrtle Beach and continued into a series of outdoor meets, during which more records were broken. As the team worked towards the conference meet, notable performances included Evangelia Berry, who broke the 10000m school record closely followed by Emerson Tillery, Emma Christensenās school record in triple jump, Ethan Saikiās 10000m school record, Sophia Wiersema and Emma Christensen who have the top two javelin throws in school history, Josiah Mellottās 800m record, Sarah Holler in Pole Vault, and school record in the womenās 4x100m relay.
Although these records are impressive, the priority for the athletics program remains discipleship first, competition second. āMy number one goal for the menās and womenās teams is for them to grow their faith in Jesus Christ," says Kaczinski. "I believe we have the right talent to really come together and make some noise by the end of the season. Iām eager to continue our rich tradition by competing at a very high level.ā
Reflecting on a successful season, Coach Kaczinski describes the qualities he values in the team as they finish out a good season. āOur team is full of selfless individuals with a love for the sport. When that sort of passion and team unity is cultivated, athletes begin to do things they never thought they could.ā He continues, āIn many ways, the 2025 season was exactly that. A group of servant leaders raising the bar together." Currently, all home track and field practices take place off campus, which is a difficult hurdle for the college, coaches, and athletes. By competing and practicing off campus, the team misses out on the opportunity of hosting others on Covenantās beautiful mountaintop campus. With these things in mind, Covenant is currently raising funds to add a track and turf field to campus that will benefit current students, boost recruiting efforts, and provide a walking track for the local community.