The Penmen Press | 9
Women’s Track and Field Sprint Into Spring Sofia Barassi and Jack Drolet Sports Editor and Staff Writer The SNHU women’s track and field team have competed several times this year as they came back from a shortened 2019-2020 season. This one will only be three out of their usual six months of competition. In their opening meet at UNH, on April 3, sprinter Meghan Stroh (‘22), placed 3rd in the 200m in her first year as an upperclassman on the team. Having this experience made adjusting to the new modified season easier for the upperclassmen but a bit harder for the freshman. “With practice starting in September, [in] those first months, you definitely get very close to each other so coming in and immediately being in meet season definitely took a lot of adjusting,” said Stroh. She continued, “And for us [upperclassmen], we knew what to expect going into meets, but the freshman had no idea and
didn’t have that adjustment time to get practice meets in and time trials in. They kind of just jumped right into it. I think upperclassmen specifically took the role to help them navigate what to do.” Teammate Jordan Woodford (‘22), hurdler, jumper andsprinter for the track team, continues on the subject by saying, “It’s tough because of COVID that we have to be physically separated, so that in itself is a barrier to try to get to know them and get everyone in one place and do actual physical team bonding.” The Penmen have a few meets left before the NE10 championships on May 7 which they are currently working towards. “I want to see in general what I can do in a twomonth period...getting on the track and doing everything I can to get as much out of it,” said Stroh when
asked about what her goals were for the season. Additionally, Woodford is focusing on her technique and seeing what she is capable of for the few months remaining in the season. The team is doing their best to stay connected with one another through their shortened season since restrictions make it harder to bond with each other. “We’re a very close team but not having those months [at the beginning of the season] was crucial,” said Woodford. When asked what positive has come out of the season Woodford stated, “Very basically, the opportunity to be able to compete because I know a lot of people didn’t get it and were very grateful to have that. It is such a short window but you have to take what you can get and we’re very happy we’re doing it.”
SNHU Softball Winds up for 2021 Season Steven Covey Staff Writer The SNHU softball team sits at a 2-6 record on their 2021 season as the team adjusts to their new schedule and new faces. After a few games were canceled in March, the team is striving to make improvements and carry on with the season. When asked what the team needs to work on, outfielder and pitcher Chloe Griffin (‘21) said, “Playing offensively and stringing hits together.” Griffin continues, “Sometimes we’ll get hits in the first inning and in the sixth but we don’t get them in a row. So it’d be nice to see more back-to-back hits. We started to do that in the last game so that was good.”
Looking ahead to the middle of the season, there are many positives that the team has seen so far that they hope to capitalize on. Getting to connect with new faces on the team has been the key to SNHU’s success. “It’s been really nice meeting the freshmen. They’re a really talented group and I think they’ve surprised a lot of people in a good way, so they’re definitely going to make a big impact this season,” says Griffin. With great potential coming from the underclassmen, the overall chemistry and teamwork outshines the competition, according to Griffin. “Our chemistry’s been awesome
this year,” she says. “It was very different not knowing half the team until March, but right off the bat, it’s been awesome. The underclassmen fit in really well and it shows. We’ve also had quite a few freshmen contributing this year and even cracking the starting lineup.” After the abnormal sports season 2020 brought, the softball team is ready to get back into it. They’re working to make improvements to become a great competitor for this season. Penmen Athletics shared, “SNHU is scheduled to play the next eight games (four doubleheaders) at home starting with Assumption University on Thursday, April 15 at 4 p.m.”
