The Sacramento State men and women’s indoor track and field teams had something to celebrate on Feb. 26. To cap off the season, both teams became Big Sky Champions.

At the meet in Pocatello, Idaho, the men pulled off a win in the end with a half-point victory over Northern Arizona, while the women dominated with a 50-point lead over second place Idaho State.

Head coach Kathleen Raske was happy to achieve goals set in the beginning of the season.

“The guys competed great and the women just nailed it,” Raske said. “It was very exciting and it felt incredible to achieve the double team titles, which was our vision all along.”

The deciding factor in the tournament for the men was the 4X400 relay.

Coming into the event, the men had a 6.5-point lead over Northern Arizona. NAU was able to win its heat and score 10 points while the Sac State men finished fifth in their heat, scoring five points.

In the end, Sac State’s leadcoming into the relay was enough to hold off the competition with a total score of 133 while Northern Arizona finished with a score of 132.5.

With the win, Sac State men and women each won their third indoor championship.

Senior Ronald Brookins finished first in the long jump, 60 M hurdles, and second in the 60 M sprint.

“We actually thought we lost so everybody was sobbing and crying,” Brookins said. “When we actually found out that we won by a half-point and not lost by a half-point, it was just pandemonium.”

The last time both the men and women’s teams won was back in 2008.

“It was great to win on both sides because we already knew the women had won but to find out that we won was just great and a real blessing,” Brookins said.

Shot putter Andi Behring won her event with a distance of 50-03.50. With that score, Behring became the first woman in Sac State history to throw over 50 feet indoor.

“The women never felt like we were going to lose it,” Behring said. “We never had that vibe.”

The women were confident knowing they could come out with the win based on the number of athletes that advanced to the finals.

“The men have a lot of talent but they’re not as deep as us,” Behring said. “(We had) five or six girls in the same event and they (had) one maybe two good guys so if one of them has a bad day, its over.”

Aside from being winning the championships, seven Sac State athletes won in nine different events.

Along with those wins, Ronald Brookins was awarded the men’s Most Valuable Athlete award and Most Outstanding Performer with his time of 7.79 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles.

Though Brookins was ecstatic to win both awards in his senior season, in his eyes, one award carried more weight than the other.

“The Most Valuable Athlete award has more value to me because we only won by half a point,” Brookins said. “It was a bigger deal for me to do good in all my events versus do good in one.”

Senior Lea Wallace was also recognized as Most Outstanding Performer with her time of 2:07.35 in the 800.

To add on to the success of the team this season, Raske also received the Coach of the Year Award.

“It should be an award called “Staff of the Year’ with the number of athletes that we have and it is a total team effort,” Raske said. “Every single coach has done a great job.”

Raske focuses on coaching athletes in the sprints and hurdles, but the quality of the Sac State athletes have been rising over the years. They have become a more powerful program on the West coast since Raske’s time at Sac State, Brookins said.

“I’m really proud of her,” Brookins said. “She has just been doing great things for our program since she’s been here and since I’ve been here, we’ve been getting better and better every year.”

This is Raske’s eighth season coaching at Sac State and Raske has coached Brookins all four years he has been the team.

“It took a while to build a championship program and the real challenge is maintaining it,” Raske said. “I couldn’t be happier, and I’m very proud of this program.”

Sac State’s Wallace, Robinson and Brookins were all invited to compete in the NCAA Division 1 Indoor Track and Field championships. Athletes from all over the nation competed at College Station, Texas on March 12.

Wallace and Robinson both ran in the 800 and Brookins ran in the 60-meter hurdles.

Wallace was able to 12th overall with a time of 2:07.61 and Robinson finished 16th overall with a time of 2:11.62.

Brookins missed the last qualifying spot that would have sent him to the finals after running 7.78, just .02 seconds behind the final qualifier. Brookins finished 10th overall.

“I was kind of disappointed,” Brookins said. “I had high expectations and I thought I would make the finals, but I would have had to run a pretty good race to make it.”

With the outdoor season set to begin, the men and women’s track and field team is looking to bring more championship titles to Sac State.

“Now we’re just looking forward to the outdoor and hoping everything will fall together. Just hoping for good things,” Brookins said.

You can reach Anthony Honrade at [email protected]