The Fresno City College Track and Field team kicked off the season on Saturday at the Sacramento City College Opener.

Sophomore Anthony Yancey was one of the major contributors for the Rams with an eighth place finish in the 100-meter dash and a fifth place finish in the 200-meter dash.

Freshman Cedric Provost also had a strong performance in the 100-meter dash with a fifth place overall finish. The team of Andrew Flewellen, Ryan Colebrook, Claudio Huerta and Devan Howard led the Rams to a third place finish in the men’s 4×400 meter relay.

Shamlyn Pinchback, Victoria James, Paris Turner and Alesia Francis led the Rams to a second place finish in the women’s 4×400 meter relay. Turner also finished first overall in the 400-meter hurdles. Freshman Sandra Navarro led the way for the Rams in the long distance as she finished second in the 1500-meter run and first in the 5000-meter run.

Sophomore captain and sprinter Devan Howard says the team should be able to take the conference titlewithout a problem.

“We have some guys out here who can make it to state and realistically we can compete with anyone,” said Howard.

The team is more organized and focused on togetherness. They know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and that has helped them become more successful on the track.

They hate losing and it shows in workouts as they race against each other in practice as if it’s a meet against another school.

“A lot of the runners are freshmen straight out of high school and their biggest adjustment is just figuring out the little things as we go during the season,” said Howard.

Freshman Sprinter Denzel Trotter is one freshman making the adjustment.

His coaches and fellow runners have helped him become a more complete runner. His goal for the season is to be competitive with the returning runners by season’s end.

“I hope to compare to the returning runners and be able to keep up,” said Trotter.

Head coach Jesus Reyes says he never goes into the season with expectations.

“Often times, we see that we can’t predict what will happen throughout the season with junior college athletes,” said Reyes.

He adds that the improvements he has seen in his team is their focus and the freshmen are taking more of a leadership role.

“The strength of this team this year is their willingness to do more.Runners are stepping up and being better at more disciplines.  Sprinters are not just running. Some are also jumping and competing at the vaults, a selfless act that helps the team out in many ways,” said Reyes.

The track and field athletes have been recruiting more students to go out and try their hand in the sport. This has helped increase the number of athletes from 39 to over 120 for fall workouts. As a result,  Reyes had to make cuts for the first time since he became coach at FCC. Reyes uses these numbers as a measuring stick to show FCC track and field is getting the notoriety like other sports on campus.

Last season the track and field  team received recognition when FCC was awarded the Learfield Sports Director Cup, a national award which the college received for its excellence in athletics.