For the last several years, the Rensselaer track & field squads have been staples of success. Four consecutive men’s outdoor state championships, last year men’s indoor title, and several All-Americans on the women’s side are all a tribute to Head Coach Colin Tory and his past and current athletes.
Early this season though, the Engineers’ performances have been hardly championship caliber.
Both the men’s and women’s teams have struggled thus far. The men finished third with 109 points and the women fourth with 61 at the Williams quad meet this past Saturday. The hosting Ephs took both titles easily.
“It’s a building process,” Tory said of his very young team. “The first step is to go to meets and compete against the best.”
RPI had several standouts. For the women, sprinter Jen Dias produced another top weekend en route to being named Liberty League Co-Track Performer of the Week for the second consecutive week. The junior took second in both the 400-meter run and 55-meter hurdles while classmate Carol Scalice posted another second-place finish for the Engineers in the long jump and had the third fastest time in the 55-meter dash.
Kemar Brown, Justin Schievelbein, and Bryan Murphy led the men’s somewhat limited attack. Brown, a junior, took second in the 55-meter dash while Schievelbein, a sophomore, and Murphy, a freshman, finished third in the 300-meter dash and 1000-meter race, respectively.
“We learned we had some very good performances,” Tory said. “But when you put it in perspective, we were going up against some national champions.”
A new difficultly facing the Engineers will be replacing distance coach Andrew Weishaar. Tory would only say Weishaar left because the assistant coach “felt it was not a good fit for him.”
In just five months since cross country season began, Weishaar developed an amazing relationship with the distance runners, and the cross country team experienced its best results in recent years.
“As far as any distance runner is concerned he was the greatest coach we have ever had,” senior distance runner Matt Haringa said.
Tory admitted it would be difficult to replace Weishaar, but said he was going to work diligently to ensure the distance program receives ample training from the coaching staff.
This weekend, the Engineers will get back on the track when both the men’s and women’s squads travel to West Point, N.Y., to compete against host school Army this Saturday.
