Aggies T&F Looks to Exceed Success From Last Season.

The Aggie men and the Aggie women are picked to win the Big South.

Erin E. Mizelle

Delecia McDuffie earned first-team All-Americans honors during the 2021 indoor season.

Track & Field | 12/3/2021 12:50:00 PM

EAST GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T track and field has enjoyed all the spoils of a champion.
Downtown Greensboro allowed large, life-sized pictures of the N.C. A&T NCAA outdoor champions to drape from parking decks.

Organizations threw numerous banquets to honor Aggies track and field. There were numerous media and appearance requests for the N.C. A&T track and field Olympians Randolph Ross, Jr. and Trevor Stewart and their coach, N.C. A&T's director of track and field programs, Duane Ross. Images of Aggie national champions fill Truist Stadium.

The Carolina Panthers invited Ross Jr. and Stewart to #KeepPounding by pounding the ceremonial drum before a preseason game, and Ross Jr. marshaled a parade.

But now, as the hoopla has subsided and 2022 approaches, it is time to get back to business and N.C. A&T track and field couldn't be happier.

The Aggies open the indoor track and field season this weekend, Dec. 4-5, at the College Kickoff Classic at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem.

"Everybody is excited especially coming off what we did this past season," said Ross. "There is a lot of anticipation. Our freshmen are ready to jump on the track and try to outdo what the upperclassmen have already accomplished."

If the freshmen can exceed the accomplishments of their predecessors, a national championship could follow. The achievements in 2021 came in bunches.

One female and nine males reached the NCAA indoor championships last season after the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) canceled the 2021 conference championship meet.

The men's indoor 4x400-meter indoor team of Ross Jr., Stewart, Daniel Stokes and Elijah Young won the national championship in Fayetteville, Ark. Ross Jr. finished second nationally in the indoor 400 meters.

Along with Young and Stokes, men's sprinters Tavarius Wright, Javonte Harding and women's sprinters Delecia McDuffie earned first-team All-American indoor honors. In addition, Ross Jr. and Stewart earned two first-team All-American accolades. Everyone except Stewart is back this season.

The U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association named Ross Jr., Southeast Region Athlete of the Year.

Then there was the outdoor season. Both the men's and women's track and field teams reached the top-10 nationally last outdoor season. In addition, the men and women won their respective MEAC titles in record-breaking fashion. The men scored a conference record 290 points, and the women broke the MEAC record with 288 points.

It was the fourth straight conference title for the men, and for the women, it was their third in four seasons. In addition, Ross sent a school-record 27 student-athletes to NCAA regionals, which resulted in the Aggies sending a school-record nine to the NCAA championships.

They brought home four event national championships. Cambrea Sturgis won the women's 100 and 200m NCAA titles, and Ross Jr. helped the Aggies 4x400 team couple their indoor title with an outdoor title. He also took home the nation's men's 400m title.

The NCAA named Ross national coach of the year and numerous current and former N.C. A&T track and field competed at the Olympic Trials, with Ross Jr. and Stewart advancing to the Olympics. The duo came home with gold medals in the 4x400, and Stewart won bronze in the mixed 4x4.

According to Ross, however, there is more to come.
"That's one of the things about our program," said Ross. "We always want to do better than the year prior. We put that expectation on the incoming athletes. So the talk at practice is about competing at a higher level than we did last year. I think if we could compete all year long, I think we would."

One of the Aggies newest challenges is becoming dominant in their new conference, the Big South Conference. The Aggies have already earned credibility in the league. The men and women are picked to win the conference. The women earned seven first-place votes, and the men earned eight.

A&T's most formidable competition for the men and women appears to be High Point University and Hampton. But for the Aggies, it doesn't matter if it is Norfolk State or Florida A&M or HPU and Hampton; the preparation is still the same.

"We are going to prepare the way we always prepare," said Ross. "The Big South is not changing anything about how we recruit or about how we train or how we coordinate our competitions. That would be giving our opponents way too much influence on how we do things within our program. I bet you everyone else in the conference will conform to what we're doing before conform to what they're doing."

N.C. A&T is known as Sprinter U. The Big South has solid distance running, but Ross believes he can take his Sprinter U reputation along with what he has in distance, jumps and throws and be successful in the Big South.

"We are looking forward to competing in the Big South," said Ross." I know the Big South teams are anxious to beat us. Whenever you have a program like ours that has had our success, no one wants to make it easy for you to come into a new league and win it. But we have good distance runners. I don't feel like I have to go out and get anyone else. We have the talent here. If they step up and fill the roles they are supposed to be playing; we'll be fine."

But for a program like A&T, it has become more than about winning a conference. It has even become more than about winning event national championships. The Aggies want a national championship.

"The first thing we do is to start to fill holes as far as winning a conference championship," said Ross. "To win a conference championship, you need numbers. You need everyone competing at a high level across numerous events. All those kids might not make NCAAs, but they are vital for winning the conference.

"But the goal is always to get as many quality athletes to the NCAAs as possible. "That's the only way we have a chance of winning a national championship is to win as many events as possible."

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