This week I had the pleasure to sit down with junior Brendan Funke from the track and field team and ask him how the season’s been so far. Funke responded, “It’s been really good. A lot better than I expected coming into this year with a brand-new coach, new freshmen and everything is starting to mesh well.”
Next, I asked about some of the other standouts on the team, to which he said, “Caleb Payne; he’s a freshman. He came in strong. He’s doing really good with the sprints and everything. I think encouragement-wise everyone’s been doing their thing. Everyone’s super supportive of each other.”
Following that, I asked what earned him the title of athlete of the week, as well as what that means to him. Funke said, “I did good in my meet, which was cool. This doesn’t really mean a whole lot. It’s one week, it’s not a huge deal. I want to go bigger. I want a medal. I want a championship. I don’t want one week of recognition.”
“I want to finish top five for Christian nationals,” said Funke when I asked about his personal goals. “The big goal would be to qualify for division three nationals, because that’s in New York. That’s like an hour away from my house back home. Going back home and competing, seeing people I competed against three years ago at my old school, it would be really fun to do that.”
Lastly, I asked what he wanted to say to the rest of the Asbury student body. Funke answered, “If you look at new programs that start up in general, not just saying track and field, but new sports programs, even clubs that start up, you’re looking at a very small group of people that want to join. It’s probably not going to make a huge mark or impact on things, but this is only our second year and we’re already doing really well. We have basically doubled in size as a team. We’re not like the usual startups where nothing really matters and it’s insignificant. We’re actually making a difference, we’re bringing in people for the school, getting people in the top ten.”
Photo courtesy of AU Athletics.
