By Will Conerly

The Quincy University Track and Field team recently competed in its season opener meet at Illinois College in Jacksonville, IL

The team also competed at the Top Times Titan Open in Bloomington, IL.

Noah James started his year off with a bang, placing top eight in all his events the first two weekends of the season. 

Coming in as a Freshman last year James had big expectations from his coaches and teammates.

“The dude is my best friend, and he is really good,” teammate Henry Haughton, who won the 60-yard dash, said.

James and Haughton have been good friends since move-in day freshman year.

“Coach grabbed us both and said ‘you both are good, so stick together,’ and that is what we have done,” James said.

James and Haughton train together and have become best friends on and off the track. James has helped Haughton work hard to come back from an injury he has been fighting since last season. 

Through two meets James has placed fifth in the 200-meter dash both times, and sixth and the eighth, respectively, in the 400-meter dash.

James, the school’s top sprinter, hails from Jacksonville, Ill., so the first meet of the year had a special place in his heart.

“There were quite a bit of people there that I knew, and it was pretty good because I actually train there (Illinois College) during winter break,”  James said.   

James’ has this benefit because his stepbrother works at Illinois College.

He did not disappoint in the first meet of the season.

James ran a 23.6-second 200-meter dash and a 52.6-second 400-meter dash. Both are personal bests for the sophomore sprinter at Quincy University.

“I just hope to improve on that meet by meet by meet and eventually once we get to the conference meets I’ll hopefully run a time that is fairly respectable,” James said.

James’ improvements (and personal bests) are things runners and people all over the country aspire to. Patience and growth was a key factor for James. 

“A lot of it has to do with getting older, as my body grows its ability to withstand more,” James said.

James and the team have just got back into the rhythm of running again.

Students and acquaintances of James have taken notice of his achievements as well.

“The dude is a workhorse and is going to make a big impact on QU track for the next several years,” Nathan Blauser said.

Students can find him on the track in the Health and Fitness center every single day.

“This is going to be one of those years where the bar is set very high and it is going to stay very high,”  James said.

“The work I’ve put in doesn’t really equate to the work I put in last year to get those numbers, so it should be a pretty good year,” James said.