Back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back.
That's the story of USF's dominant run through the American Conference men's track and field championships. Since 2024, head coach Erik Jenkins has guided five straight title teams — three indoor, two outdoor — and USF has an opportunity to make it six in a row this weekend when the American Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships are held in Denton, Texas.
"Every championship is hard, so you don't take anything for granted,'' Jenkins said. "Winning is hard. If it was easy, everybody would do it. There are a lot of quality teams within our league and a lot of coaches who have been successful for a long time.
"You never have a perfect meet. You talk to any coach in any sport, and they'll tell you there's no such thing as a perfect day. But you try to put yourself in a position to be successful. You try to get as many people in the finals as you can. Once you get in the finals, then you can start (projecting) the points. We want to do the best that we can in the American Conference championships. Then from there, we'll worry about the NCAA (championships).''
The USF men have four conference-leading times or distances this season — Jaleel Croal in the 100 meters (10.07, 12th nationally); Kelsey Singleton in the 400 meters (45.43, 21st nationally); Nikodem Pochopien in the pole vault (5.35 meters) and the 4x100-meter relay (38.97, 19th nationally).
Meanwhile, eight Bulls already have clinched a spot in the NCAA East Regionals — Croal (100 and 200 meters), Joshua Crum (400-meter hurdles), Nathan Metelus (200 and 400 meters), Darian Mills (400-meter hurdles), Payton Pitts (pole vault), Pochopien (pole vault), Esteisy Salas Lozano (shot put) and Singleton (400 meters).
Croal is clearly the USF athlete to watch.
At last season's American Outdoor Championships, Croal was named Most Valuable Performer after tripling in the sprints, winning the 100 meters (10.26) and 200 meters (meet-record 20.28), while running the second leg of USF's champion 4x100 relay team (38.73). Croal holds the USF program record with eight overall conference titles (ranking sixth in American Conference championship history).
"I'm very excited,'' said Croal, an outgoing senior. "It's my last one (conference outdoor meet). Like they say, last one, best one. So I'm trying to end it with a bang. It would mean a lot to win. All our names will be in history and that would be great.
"I've been on a lot of different (USF) teams and I always say we have the camaraderie and we all act as brothers. We're after the same goal. I think they (other teams) know who we are and they probably respect us. They also want to beat us. So I kind of get energy from that.''
Metelus, a three-year USF veteran, and Singleton, a transfer from Southern Miss, have added quality depth and both are capable of winning the 400-meters title.
"If we run fast, do our job, keep our heads down, stay focused and stay disciplined, we come out of there with another conference title,'' Singleton said. "We already know it's not going to be easy. Coach Jenkins keeps reminding us that we have to earn it. We know what type of team we have. If we stay healthy and stay focused, we can be very unstoppable.''
"It's really satisfying to win as a team and we want to experience that again,'' Metelus said. "We know what it's going to take and we feel like we're going to be ready. It's great to be part of a team that is capable of winning championships and that's always going to be the expectation around here.''
That was Jenkins' expectation when he took the USF job in 2019, worked through a COVID-interrupted season in 2020, then methodically built the Bulls into a national contender.
"Every time we get an opportunity to celebrate a win, it's special,'' Jenkins said. "It never gets old. We want to put ourselves in position to win, then enjoy those moments because championship don't come easy.
"We always want to be in position to be successful at the conference championships. We represent the University of South Florida. We compete in the American Conference. So obviously this is a weekend we want to do our best.''
USF's best has been pretty darn good over the last three seasons.
Back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back championships … and the potential for a sixth straight title is on the line this weekend.
"We'll be ready,'' Croal said. "These are the weekends where you want everything to come together and I believe we'll be ready for this moment.''
