By Amrit Brown\/\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A member of the Hood College track team broke two school records at a meet on Jan. 21 and another at a meet on Jan. 27. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first-year runner, Chris Sappe, broke the school records in the 3,000-meter run (9:16.32) and the mile run (4:26.50) at Virginia Wesleyan University\u2019s Blue Marlin Invitational on Jan. 21. Less than a week later, Sappe broke the record in the 600-meter run (1:24.48) at the Mini-Dip Invitational on Jan. 27 hosted by Franklin and Marshall College. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has been in the cards for Sappe for a while who set his sights on the Hood College record books after coming up short during the cross-country season. \u201cIt definitely felt good considering I got so close,\u201d Sappe said about his records. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Hood College track coach, Mike Petro, said he has a strong belief in Sappe and said that Sappe could be an individual national qualifier during his time at Hood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sappe has not only set the bar high for himself but also for his team. \u201cI think we do have the best team we have had in a while, if not like the best team we have ever had,\u201d Sappe said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sappe has been widely successful in a variety of events at Hood and said that his training regimen from this past year was a part of that success. Petro added that Sappe\u2019s buy-in as well as his versatility has been a huge part of his success this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Petro, who is in his second year at Hood also has big goals for the team. \u201cI\u2019d be lying if I said I didn\u2019t want to win a team title,\u201d Petro said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Petro believes that the journey to a team title was cut down significantly by this past recruiting class including Sappe. \u201cA lot of the team success we are going to have, he is going to play a very pivotal part in that this season,\u201d Petro said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sappe has had success on the track since high school where he was a multiple-time conference champion, all-county and all-region athlete and national track qualifier. He also was awarded region champion, team MVP, and Frederick News Post Track Athlete of the Month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"