Track and field teams travel to UNCP

By Mark Schulman
Assistant Editor

UNCP hosted the 21st Annual Braves Track and Field Classic on March 20 bringing in several colleges including the Neosho County Community College (NCCC) from Chanute, Kan.

Returning to North Carolina for the track meet was Coach Tavalous Brown of the NCCC Panthers. Brown lived in Ellerbe outside of Rockingham and graduated from Fayetteville State in 2003 with a degree in Sociology. He has been the NCCC sprint coach for seven months.

Brown led his track team on the 1200-mile journey across the country to Pembroke stopping only for gas and food to compete at the Braves Classic.

“The long trip doesn’t affect the athletes at all if they get their rest,” Brown said.

Many of the Midwest team members arrived Thursday to experience Southern culture for the first time. It can be stressful for athletes to perform to their best abilities being 19 hours from home Brown said.

“[UNCP] really took care of us,” Brown said. “It helps the athletes relax that someone cares about them here.”

The Panthers took advantage of the beautiful Pembroke weather by practicing outside. In Kansas, the team could only practice outside two days out of the week because of the inclement weather.

“We came all the way here and we want to prove something that we, as a junior college, can compete with four year universities.”

Brown is proud that his team came here and performed to the best of their ability.

During Brown’s brief return home he spent time with family and went to high schools in the county to talk to students about enrolling at NCCC in the track and field athletics program. Brown and Panther teammates gave pointers to high school students on how to improve their game.

The NCCC Panthers are off on the road again traveling to Colorado and then to Texas.