SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – To anyone who has spent time inside the Augustana track & field community, it would come as no surprise that the team can sometimes be described as a "family". It rings truer when the team even has family members on the team, like Noah and Taylor Melton.

Noah is a senior middle-distance runner and Taylor is a sophomore distance runner.

Although they weren't very close growing up, they both found Augustana to be the place to pursue bachelor's degrees, while continuing their athletic careers.

Noah Melton wasn't looking into running in college or Augustana before an 800m race his senior year of high school changed his outlook on running.

"I remember running a 2:00 in the 800m and going up to my coach and talking about running in college," Noah said.

Noah was a walk-on for the track team once he got to Augustana. 

"I remember, I would go to practice and thought, jeez, this is hard and I was running with people a lot better than me. I would run with Josh Barrows and I found you can kind of fall in love with doing that. I also knew that I wanted to prove myself to the team."

Barrows has seen Noah in a lot of situations, competing with him on the track team Noah's freshman year, then becoming his coach in the fall of 2020. 

"When I knew Noah as an athlete he was very shy, very quiet, not outgoing, but he bought into what the middle distance group was doing and wanted to work hard," Barrows said.

Barrows took a year away from Augustana, getting his M.A. in English Rhetoric at Carnegie Mellon University, before rejoining Augustana as an assistant coach.

"In the year that I was away from the team, Noah became a different person, he is almost a ring leader for his social interactions, he is more talkative and engages with people during workouts," Barrows added.

In the 2020 indoor season, Noah ran a personal best time of 1:20.41, ranking him second on Augustana's all-time list, just shy of his former teammate, and current coaches' school record.

Although Noah did not get the school record in the 600m, coach Barrows was very proud of Noah.

"It's a special thing for me because it's my record and I wanted Noah to get that record.

"He is a really big part of my group and I wasn't surprised that he ran as fast as he did and I thought that he would surpass that record, if it weren't for an injury I think he would have surpassed it," Barrows said.

When it came time for Taylor to look for a four-year school, she hadn't put much thought into Augustana, mainly because Noah was here.

She was reached out to by then assistant coach Scott Tanis to see if she had any interest in Augustana.

Taylor is under the assumption that Noah had something to do with that, saying that Noah had told Tanis that his sister was a good runner, and that maybe he should text her, which Noah quickly denied that a conversation like that happened.

Although Taylor appreciated the acknowledgment, she still wasn't sold on Augustana, with her older brother here.

"I didn't want to follow Noah," Taylor said.

It was after meeting the team that Taylor decided that Augustana would be the place she would call home.

"I came on my visit and I loved every second of it," Taylor added. 

Taylor's freshman experience was different than most, coming to Augustana in August of 2020.

"I remember everyone made a big deal that there was no camp and then my sophomore year everything felt new again because we had camp which was even more exciting.

"I think the biggest thing is the culture, like Noah said, going to practice you just kind of like fall in love with it," Taylor said.

The Meltons have become closer since Taylor arrived on campus.

"Having Noah being around helped me my freshman year because then I got have a close relationship with people on the track team. Since I already had a good relationship with the cross country team right away, but then I got introduced to Josh Schumacher and Tyl Woelber, two of Noah's really close friends, and I was like a little sister to them," Taylor added.

The two even have classes together this semester, which they agreed played a part in them becoming closer.

Noah is an english and philosophy double major while Taylor is an elementary education major with a minor in art. Noah is experiencing Taylor's classes, taking children's literature and drawing.

"It's awful," Noah jokes, "I guess we kind of bonded or whatever they say, I would just say the professor likes me a lot more than she likes him," Noah continued.

Although it is Noah's final semester at Augustana, he still has a laid-back attitude toward his future, the same attitude that got him to Augustana, although his parents might be a little more concerned about this attitude this time.

"I haven't had that realization yet, but it will probably come here soon. I know that it might hit me walking through campus and I'll be like, oh my god, this is my moment, it's all over now," Noah added.

He then went on to share things that he will miss, like doing workouts, his house, athletic trainer Jason Rinne, Taylor chimed in and asked if he would miss her, to which he smiled and said no.

In addition to the Meltons, the Vikings have two sets of twins on the team. Rachel Rairdon and Rebekah Rairdon, members of the distance squad in their fifth year at Augustana and Cole Berends and Luke Berends, sprinters in their first year at Augustana.

The Vikings open their outdoor campaign this weekend at the Dordt Invitational on Saturday in Sioux Center, Iowa.

A live stream and live results can be found at GoAugie.com/Live and on the GoAugie App, presented by CellOnly. The app can be downloaded in the app store or on Google Play.
 

–GoAugie.com–