Imagine if the track meet had not been cancelled due to the coronavirus, but for a really fun reason.
That heartwarming fantasy is behind a three-minute video featuring student athletes and coaches at Stockton University.
It opens with Jayson Resch, director of cross country/track and field, arriving at an empty parking lot on campus Saturday, the day Stockton had planned to host its first meet of the season.
The next clip — scenes were filmed separately due to social distancing — shows Todd Curll, women’s track and field coach, standing by the empty track.
“Aw, that’s right. We can’t have the meet at Stockton today,” Curll says.
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Curll never gives the reason why. He never mentions coronavirus. That would have been a downer, and the point of the video is to uplift.
After a pause, he says, “Wait a minute — they must be holding it somewhere else."
The video then cuts to the student athletes, one after the other, showing off their skills in spectacularly creative fashion.
A pole vaulter rans down a street, with the camera cutting away just before he would have taken flight. A sprinter does a lap around an in-ground pool. A hurdler leaps over a lawn chair.
Other light touches include a runner ‘racing’ across a carpet, two small dogs jumping over obstacles and a shot-putter heaving a cabbage into a tree.
It does not end with scores, or standing, or trophies — just a good vibe that, right now, everyone needs.
Emmy LaFevre, a senior and shot-putter, is the only student with a speaking role.
“It’s hammer time, baby,” says LaFevre, wielding a chain wrapped around the handle of a paint can that she hurls toward an empty swing set.
LaFevre told NJ Advance Media that the team was seeking to uplift with the video.
“We wanted to make it comical,” LaFevre said.
The team has 82 members, Curll said.
They held their last practice on Friday, March 12, followed by a team meeting three days later. Then they all went home, but have remained connected.
LaFevre acknowledged the hurt, noting that the team began preparing months ago for the spring season.
“Nothing really prepares you for this. We still have loose ends that really didn’t get tied up,” LaFevre said.
The last scene shows a student running in slow motion, before fading to dark and a final graphic:
“Final outcome of the meet ... no one beats Stockton track and field!”
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Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@RobJenningsNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.