BOCA RATON, Fla. – As the Lynn University men's track and field team prepares to open the 2026 outdoor season, one message has remained constant under Head Coach Junior Cadet:
 
Trust the Process.
 
"It's simple," Cadet said. "If you trust the process, the results will show for themselves."
 
The Fighting Knights enter the spring in a transition year after graduating much of the core that helped elevate the program to the national stage in recent seasons. While the roster may be young, Cadet believes the foundation in place positions Lynn for continued growth.
 
"We are in a rebuilding stage," Cadet said. "Most of the talent we had graduated, so this team is very young. But there's a lot of talent here."
 
Veteran leadership comes from upperclassmen Renzo Almeida, Jayden Geathers, and Andre Nembhard, while a deep sprint group of sophomores and freshmen gives Lynn flexibility across the 100, 200, 400 and relay events. That depth, paired with internal competition, has become a focal point of the program's early-season development.
 
One of the most impactful additions comes in the hurdles, where Geathers arrives with championship-level experience.
 
"He understands what it takes to win," Cadet said. "He's trained under Olympian Bershawn Jackson. That kind of experience matters. He knows what it takes to try to win a championship and even get to a national championship."
 
Cadet has emphasized accountability across the roster, particularly in the relays, where no role is guaranteed.
 
"Nobody's place is safe," he said. "If we want to compete at the conference and national level, we have to earn it every single week."
 
With Isaiah Bryant sidelined due to injury and several new contributors stepping into expanded roles, the men's success will be driven by development, something Cadet has intentionally built into every layer of the program.
 
"Our season is 44 weeks long," Cadet said. "It's broken into phases, themes and cycles. Everything we do is leading to May. You clock in now, and you don't clock out until May is over."
 
That long-term approach has allowed Cadet to be strategic with training and event placement. Several athletes have already begun transitioning into new roles, including shifts within the mid-distance group to maximize team scoring.
 
"We have so many 400 guys," Cadet said. "So we've moved some athletes up to the 800 to help us score. It's about doing what's best for the team."
 
The schedule itself reflects that philosophy. Early-season meets are designed to build rhythm and confidence, while later competitions demand peak performance. For Cadet, March 28 at the NSU Shark Invite represents a major benchmark.
 
"That second meet at Nova is when we need to run the times," he said. "That's when we see if we're trending where we should be."
 
From there, Lynn will test itself against elite Division I competition at the Baylor Invitational: a meet Cadet refers to as the program's "pre-nationals."
 
"If you want to compete at nationals, you have to compete against athletes like that," Cadet said. "That's the stage nationals is run on."
 
Cadet's benchmarks are not based on conference placement alone, but national standards.
 
"Every athlete has the top-10 time from last year," he said. "If you want to make it to nationals, you have to run that number."
 
Early-season progress is measured simply.
 
"If we're two percent better by our second meet, we're trending the right way," Cadet said.
 
Above all else, belief remains the driving force.
 
"Track is 80 percent mental," Cadet said. "If you don't believe in what we're doing, it's very hard to have a good season."
 
For a young men's team navigating a rebuild, that belief may be the most important piece of all.
 
"This group is young," Cadet said. "But if they trust the process, the outcome will be exactly what we planned."
 
The Fighting Knights open the 2026 outdoor season Saturday, Feb. 21, at the Tampa Spartans Open in Tampa, Fla.