The women’s track and field team is on their fourth coach in five years. Their team consists of many younger and inexperienced athletes. Through it all, they continue to strive and work there hardest despite the unpredictable weather.

Coach Terry Burke joined the team in August and plans on sticking around for a while if everything goes well.

“The athletes are still getting use to me and I am still getting use to them,” said Coach Burke.

Coach Burke is getting use to procedures and agrees that things could always be improved. Far from inexperienced Burke has been coaching some form of track and field since 1982 and gives the team a tremendous amount of support. He started out at Redwood High School and moved on to College of Marin after more than 10 years. Before he came to SF State he was independently coaching individuals through his own business.

“He is understanding and always there when we need to reach him or have a concern or question,“ said Ashley Sinclair, a freshman and competitor in jumping events.

Track and field has a large number of new athletes with only 10 out of 32 women returning. Some of the returnees qualified provisionally for the finals in the indoor portion of the season, Kavina Hall and Antonio Diamond.

Although now the emphasis is on the outdoors season and Coach Burke plans to focus on that. The Gators finished seventh out of nine for the indoor season and Coach Burke is shooting for fifth or sixth for the outdoor season. With a smaller group and more confidence among team members he plans on seeing an improvement.

“We are trying to get ready for everything coming up, the rain has been a real problem for us though,” said Phylicia Miller, a freshman and competitor in throwing events.

With rain in the forecast so many days this spring, the weather has foiled the team’s transition from indoor to outdoor team practices. The weather is also preventing Coach Burke from doing any special preparation for the Johnny Mathis Invitational coming up the beginning of April.

“The indoor season went well, but indoor took more out of the athletes that I had planned on,” said Coach Burke.

The team itself will continue to improve and the current members will have to get better to stay on the team for next season. Coach Burke plans on doing some heavy recruiting for the next season and wants to increase the team to 40-42 women; about 10 more than the teams has right now. Of all the returning team members, only two of the four seniors have been on the team for all four years.

So far in outdoor meets, a few individuals have proved they belong on the team and are not going anywhere. Christine Perez, a returning senior, took 2nd place during Chico Relays for the 1 mile with a time of 5:35.40 and 2nd again during the Bay Area Blast off with 11:08.97 for the 3000m events. Perez is one of the two seniors returning that have been on the team all four years.

Lisa Mausia, sophomore and co-captain of the team, took 1st for her two events in the Bay Area Blastoff with a distance of 11.16 for Shot Put and a distance of 36.37 for Discus.

Susie Sandoval, junior, placed at all three meets the team has attended so far. During the Stanford Spring Open She had a time of 11:01.04 for the 3000m placing her in 1st. During the Chico Relays she competed in the 5000m and came out with a time of 18:57.45 and for the Bay Area Blastoff she held a time of 5:36.49 for the 1mile event.

The athletes themselves come from a very diverse set of circumstances and next season the team will have two- thirds returning, which will help a great deal.

The Johnny Mathis Invitational is a very important meet for the Gators because it brings in money that Coach Burke will use to help recruit women for the next season.

Everyone will be competing in the meet and Coach Burke continues to work on getting the team going, one of the biggest hurdles he has experienced. The team will continue to build and be tighter knit next season and the level of the program will continue to rise.

For the remaining portion of the outdoor season one can only look to the sky and hope for more clear days to help the Gators train as best they can for the time they have left.

Don’t miss the Johnny Mathis Invitational on April 7-8 starting at 9am both days. Come out and support your Gators.