By Trinity Collins '20, SCSU Men's Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field
 
We departed for the 2020 NCAA Indoor Track & Field National Championships on Wednesday, Mar. 12, 2020. On Thursday, Mar. 13th at 4:42 p.m., [SCSU] head coach John Wallin informed our track team that the meet was canceled due to concerns with the Coronavirus.
 
This broke all of our hearts, especially since we had just practiced earlier in the day, along with many other teams, at the Birmingham (Ala.) CrossPlex. Prior to that announcement, we heard that the banquet was canceled and then that fans were not being allowed in the facility for either days of the meet, but we were hopeful that was the end of it. The next day the news broke. My emotions ranged from anger to sadness and confusion and, ultimately, to disappointment.
 
For me, I've been on the grind since June. I've been getting up early in the morning to practice at 6 a.m., before heading to work. Then I trained throughout the Fall and Winter season with some of the hardest-working student-athletes I've known while being mentored by the best coaching staff ever.
 
To see my season and maybe career end like this left me feeling empty. I couldn't shake that feeling until we boarded our second flight home. Once we took off, I started to feel sad and frustrated. To work so hard for weeks and months only for it to end like this…was crushing.
 
Even though Justin Kelly, Nigel Green, Milan Spisek, Elijah Henry, Ruvens Exantus, Fejiro Onakpoma and I never got a chance to compete with this year's NCAA athletes, we are thrilled and were honored to have run, jumped and vaulted for this year's Southern Connecticut Track & Field program. The journey to get to this point was fun and magical because this wasn't just our team, it was our family.
 
When I look back on this season, I'm going to remember that we were a group of hard-working "big dogs" who were never satisfied with anything but succeeding. Being a part of this program for the last four years, I've learned a valualbe lesson:'the grind never stops'.
 
We are the Owls, the Mighty Owls, watch your back because we're coming, and we're running and we're gunning!!!!!
 
Trinity Collins
SCSU Track & Field Senior Student-Athlete