The Washington and Lee women’s track and field team has boasted 16 personal best performances, three new performances on the W&L all-time top five list and one facility record since the start of its indoor season last month.

But Coach Dana Freeman said her players’ best is yet to come.

Julia Moody, ’20, is just one of the members of the track team looking to improve upon these early successes. She broke the facility record at the Roanoke Bast-Cregger Invitational in December with a time of 10:34.40 for the 3,000-meter race.

Moody said she doesn’t feel like much has changed in her role on the team since freshman year, except for her confidence in her indoor track abilities.

“Last year I had never seen an indoor track before,” said Moody.

Moody said she plans to keep improving upon her personal best and thinks the new speed training workouts the team just started will help her achieve that season-long goal. Moody also said runners who have recently returned from injury breaks will add great depth to the team in coming weeks.

The track and field team has four captains this year: Lily Arnold, ’18, Kaleigh Hinton, ’18, Maggie Seybold, ’19 and Jessica Rosenwasser, ’19. For a sport with so many different events, Freeman said having multiple captains to represent each aspect of the sport is a necessity.

Arnold usually runs the 800-meter race or the mile in the indoor season. She said her role has certainly changed over the years now that she’s a senior and a leader of the team.

“I’m more conscious of my actions and the impacts they could have on the team. I make sure to do the workouts, stretching and lifts as well as all I can to try to set an example for the rest of the team,” said Arnold.

Freeman said the team is working tirelessly on its athletic performance, but players are focused on academics as well.

“Last year we were once again a U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic team and achieved the 13th highest team GPA out of all DIII track and field programs,” she said. “We are excited to crack into the top 10 this year.”

The team’s ultimate goal this season is to win an ODAC championship. Arnold said track has come close in years past and is striving more than ever to reach that victory in 2018.

The women will next face their competition at the VMI Invitational on Feb. 9 and 10.