St. Andrews starts Track & Field programs

July 8, 2005

LAURINBURG, NC—St. Andrews Presbyterian College Athletic Director Howard Reichner has announced the addition of men’s and women’s track & field to the college’s list of NCAA Division II sponsored sports beginning this fall.

“It gives me great pleasure to announce the return of men’s and women’s track and field to St. Andrews,” said Reichner. “As with all emerging sports there will be challenges but I invite all of our student-athletes to join or support the new program to make it great.”

The new track & field teams will be coached by Gary Aycock, the present head men’s and women’s cross country coach. Stevan Hernandez, the current head men’s soccer coach, will assist Aycock. Cross county assistants Jim Walters and Charles Rivers will also contribute as assistants to track & field.

“I am excited about the addition of track and field to the list of NCAA sponsored sports at St. Andrews,” expressed Aycock. “The track and field teams should benefit the other sports at St. Andrews while offering a quality program to prospective student-athletes nation wide.”

The inaugural teams will utilize current student-athletes from St. Andrews and will compete in a spring schedule. Aycock will then bring in his first recruiting class for the 2006/07 school year. The program will develop into rosters that may boast as many as 30 student-athletes for both the men’s and women’s teams.

The Knights will start with no conference affiliation but will compete in the Southeast Region of NCAA Division II. Colleges from North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee and Maryland make up the Southeast Region.

“I feel confident that with both my knowledge and experience along with that of the assistant coaches, the program should develop into a championship contending program from within the NCAA D-II Southeast Region,” concluded Aycock.

If you are interested in being a member of the inaugural team, please contact Coach Aycock at 910-277-5434 or email at aycockgp@sapc.edu.

St. Andrews competes in 17 NCAA Division II sports.