While most of the Simpson College football team is focusing on off season workouts, some of them are in the middle of their second sport, track.

Freshmen Jackson Redmond, Davey Jergens and sophomore Trevor McKee are three of these dual-sport athletes.  Jergens and McKee are sprinters, while Redmond competes in the long jump, triple jump and high jump.

Jergens plays running-back and returns kicks for the Simpson football team. During the indoor track season, he runs the 55 or 60 meter dash (depending on the size of the track), and will most likely run the open 100 and 200 meter dashes once outdoor track starts.

“The skills translate really well, especially for indoor with the 60 meter dash. If you break a long run [in football] it will be about 60 yards. It’s just about the same distance,” Jergens said. “It’s beneficial because I’m not the biggest, so I need speed. I do track so I can maintain my speed or get faster.”

McKee, a safety in football, runs a multitude of 400 meter races and the 4×200 meter relay in both indoor and outdoor track. He also emphasizes the benefits of doing both sports to increase speed and explosiveness. He said, “In football, you may need to run the full field at once, you need to be able to reach your top speed fairly quickly and maintain that top speed, just like in track.”

Redmond is a jumper in track and a wide receiver on Simpson’s football team. He is an Athletic Training and Exercise Science major. Both McKee and Jergens are also Exercise Science majors, so it is not surprising that all three athletes spoke about how competing in both sports keeps them in top shape year round. Redmond said, “Both sports have their off season and in season workouts. It something that always keeps you in shape since you are always in season and always have workouts.”

Jergens, McKee, Redmond and the rest of the Simpson College track team will compete next at the UNI-Dome Invitational on Saturday Feb. 21 at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls.