T-Bird (M-T&F) Begins Indoor Season in Lubbock
The New Mexico Junior College men's track & field team begins their indoor season Friday, Jan. 17 in Lubbock, Texas.
The Thunderbirds will be competing in the Corky Classic Jan 17-18 at the Texas Tech Sports Performance Center.
NMJC's 2024 track season ended with the T-Birds finishing national runner-up during the indoor and outdoor season. The T-Birds will have to replace some big production left by seven-time NJCAA individual national champion and Olympian Tapiwanashe (Carlie) Makarawu (now Kentucky). Pair that with fellow Zimbabwean Takudzwa (Donald) Chiyangwa (now Alabama) who finished with three individual 400m national champion medals and one relay 4x4 national champion medal in his two years at NMJC.
The T-Birds return 10 sophomores from the 2024 national runner-up squad. The T-Bird sophomores are led by outdoor 400m national runner-up and 400m relay national champion Bovel McPherson. The men's side features 26 new faces coming into the fold for the 2025 track & field season.
The Thunderbirds are led by Terry VanLaningham who is in his first year as the head men's track & field coach.
"One of the reasons I was interested in leading this program is that the history of NMJC Track & Field has been one of success," head men's track & field coach Terry VanLaningham said. "We expect to contend for the national championship. Everybody wants to win it, and we certainly do. One of the great things about track & field is that we all have the season to prepare and then battle it out over two days to find out who is the best. It takes a total team effort, and each team member must be at their best in every event they compete at when it counts the most."
The meet begins on Friday in Lubbock with the field events from 3 p.m. - 7 p.m. CST. The running events start at 4 p.m. CST and finish around 9:30 p.m. CST. Saturday's field events start at 11 a.m. and go through 3 p.m. CST. The track events also start at 11 a.m. but will conclude around 4:30 p.m. CST.
"I am very excited for this season to begin. Our sophomores from last year have had a terrific fall of training and we have a very large and talented group of newcomers," Coach VanLaningham said. "The indoor season is short, and we have been messaging for some time now how important it is to start well and trust the process throughout the regular season meets. Each meet is their best opportunity to prepare themselves for the NJCAA Championships in March. I expect them to compete with great effort and intensity this season."
Coach Van is interested to see how his team responds in their first official meet of the year.
"I expect we will see some excellent marks, some good, some average, and probably a few that should be better," Coach VanLaningham said. "This level of competition, however, does shine a light on how each athlete handles their mental game. For some, they and our coaches will learn more about how they handle the competition mentally more than physically. I am excited to see who steps up and for how much we will eventually benefit from this first opportunity to test our skills."
The Corky Classic will be streamed live on ESPN+ (Day 1 & Day 2). The schedule can be found by clicking here along with the heat sheets (Day 1 & Day 2), and live results.
Men's Returners:
Men's Newcomers:
