On Saturday, the Tech women's track and field team wrapped up yet another ACC Conference Championship at Georgia Tech. For those who have not been keeping track, that makes four ACC championships in a row (two indoor, two outdoor). With the ACC being one of the strongest conferences in the country, and with Tech dominating in events that are dominated nationally by athletes in the ACC, this is an accomplishment that is worth taking time to appreciate.
To put the track team's effort into perspective, take a moment to ponder what insanity would follow if the football or basketball team were to win four ACC championships in a row: pure mayhem (deservedly so). While track is obviously a much less popular sport here at Tech, and in America in general, the track team gets along without any of the hype. They don't get police escorts back to campus, or ACC Championship parties in Cassell Coliseum -- they get home, get rest, come back the next day and start working for the next meet. Without the hype, they go out and do their jobs -- and do them extremely well.
A mere four years ago the Tech track team was struggling to finish in the middle of the pack in the Big East. This accomplishment is a direct result of unbelievably top-notch coaching in every aspect of the team: sprints, distance running, throws and jumps. Biased or not, I am 100 percent confident in saying that every coach on the Tech track team is one of the best coaches in the country in his or her respective field.
As for the athletes, I do not have enough room to tell you how incredibly hard working and dedicated these girls are. Maybe you would know if you got up at 5:30 a.m. and went to the track during the fall semester and saw the pain and sacrifice they exert. Maybe then you would understand why several underclassmen are Olympic-qualified. Or if you saw pole vaulters working out every day of the week, sometimes until 8:30 p.m. in the gymnastics room trying to perfect some technical aspects of their vault, you would know why Tech has dominated the event for the last few years. Sit in on a thrower's lifting workout, or a distance track workout, and you will see some mind-boggling things happen.
Long story short, the Tech women's track and field team deserves everything that they have accomplished, and they also deserve the hype and fanfare that they will likely never see. But knowing the team, I don't think they have a problem with that. They just continue to work hard and win championships, and they will continue to win championships.
Basking in glory is not their style -- winning is. Congratulations, women's track, you make all Hokies proud.
Adam Bingaman
graduate student, electrical engineering
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