Santa Rosa Junior College’s track and field team is looking to build upon the success it achieved last year.

The men’s team finished third in the Big 8 Conference, while the women’s team finished fifth. With only a few key players transferring or graduating, head coach David Wellman is optimistic of how his team’s season will play out.

“I can see us progress a little further [than last year],” he said.

Wellman’s team is quite young and features a lot of new faces. This year’s team has 60 athletes, but a lot will be greyshirting or redshirting.

Team members look forward to the challenge of representing SRJC and continuing to improve their position in the Big 8.

Assistant coach Mark Wilson says his athletes are motivated to make a name for themselves. Freshmen Justin Zimmerman, out of Rancho Cotate, will participate in the high jump. His jump is five inches short of SRJC’s 7 foot 2 inch record.

Stephanie Fernandez will participate in the 400 hurdles, 4×4 relay and the 4×100 relay. “I’ll bring some speed to the teams,” said Fernandez, who’d like to break the school record in the 100-meter hurdles.

She continued, “I want our relay teams to do well. We have strong girls out here.”

Jacob Campbell is another name to remember. He’s trying out for track for the first time since high school. His personal record for the 110-meter hurdles is two-tenths of a second from SRJC’s school record.

“I know I got better [since high school],” he said with a confident smile.

Julia Grimm is an impressive returning athlete for the Bear Cubs. Last year she earned three medals in the javelin and high jump. She looks to maintain her collegiate excellence by continuing to rank among the best in her events.

The Bear Cubs’ first track meet will be Feb. 25 in Chico.