After a strong individual showing this past weekend, Brockport’s Kerry Flower was named SUNYAC Women’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Week, announced Feb. 12.
Brockport track and field traveled to Boston University to compete in the David Hemery Invitational in their second-to-last regular season competition of the indoor season this past weekend.
Competing Friday in the women’s 5000-meter run, Flower finished 21st in a field of over 50 runners. Putting her name in the Brockport record books, Flower recorded the second fastest time in the indoor 5000m event at 17 minutes, 26 seconds. This also marks only the fifth time a woman has run a 5k in under 18 minutes in Brockport history and the first time since 2019.
“Her time was definitely something we felt was very doable for her,” assistant track and field coach John Davis said. “We’ve talked about running close to the school record this year and trying to get close to qualifying for nationals, so even with it being a pretty sizable personal best for her, it was also something that we fully expected to be possible.”
In her senior season, Flower has consistently found success. Also competing in the 3-kilometer run, she ran the sixth fastest time in program history at Brockport’s home opening indoor meet earlier this year.
Davis points to Flower’s work in practice as a reason for her success.
“The biggest change we’ve made once she was back on campus was working on her speed,” Davis said. “She’s been able to do things in training at some faster paces which I think has really helped her feel more efficient.”
Flower and the rest of Brockport track and field will travel to Nazareth to compete in the Nazareth Conference Tune-Up Meet Friday, Feb. 16. They will be looking to finish the regular season on a high note before Brockport hosts the SUNYAC Indoor Championships Feb. 23-24.
Looking ahead, Davis hopes Flower can keep the momentum going.
“Kerry has an incredibly high ceiling as an athlete,” Davis said. “Overall goals for her the rest of this season are just to continue to build confidence in her ability, take some steps towards qualifying for indoor nationals in the 5k, and just keep having fun doing what she’s doing.”
