Last weekend’s track & field meet in Long Beach, Calif., completed the quick transition between the indoor and outdoor seasons. The RPI track & field team finished the indoor season on a positive note when two athletes garnered All-American status based on their results at the NCAA championships in Northfield, Minn.
Despite losing the state and conference meets, the indoor season was considered a success by the team. Junior captain Paul Legac explains, “I don’t think that the men’s team had any shortcomings or disappointments in the indoor season. We are a young team who lost some very good seniors last year. Our goal for states was to run our best times, and we did that.” He’s exactly right; there were many members on the podium individually, which is just where you want to be as an underclassman. Captains Julia Moore and Carol Scalice for the women, both juniors, share the attitude. “State meet is always really fun … chanting people’s names … there’s always a lot of cheering,” said Scalice. But they too are fielding a “very young team,” stocked with freshmen with potential she would add. The women feel they are a lot more individual because they just don’t have the numbers to field a deep team.
At the state meet, the male mid-distance runners were highlighted by sophomore Andrew Coye, junior Greg Mariano, and freshman Bryan Murphy who finished third, seventh, and eighth, respectively, in the 1000-meter run. Sophomore Geoff Williams also got in on the act, placing seventh in the mile.
The outdoor season has already started, and individuals are each setting their own goals for success at specific meets. Legac explains, “I’d say our main goal on the men’s side is to again peak at the state meet and hopefully run our best times of the season there. As a captain, I would love to win another state title, and I feel that if our team can come together as a whole at the state meet and run well, we can be in competition for the title.”
On their way to that success, the team took home all six track & field awards from the Liberty League this week and took second in the Whittier Meet in Long Beach with 174 points, barely behind California Lutheran University’s 178. Unfortunately for freshman Chris Donais, after running a blazing fast 10K race, he was stopped one lap early and was disqualified.
Sophomore Justin Schievelbein’s time of 22.46 seconds won the 200-meter dash. He also took second in the 100-meter dash. Lance Chase, a senior, notched an impressive 49-foot 9.5-inch in the shot put, threw for 167 feet seven inches in the hammer throw, and sent the discus 139 feet five inches, winning all three events. Freshman and rookie of the week Chris Gonyo took second in the 400-meter hurdles and second in the pole vault.
The women won their meet with 189 points. Junior Jen Dias took first in the 400-meter hurdles with an NCAA provisional time of 63.89 seconds. She also won the 100-meter hurdles and was on the winning 4x100 relay team. Winning the hammer throw with an NCAA provisional distance of 152 feet two inches was senior Felicia Tsai. 32 feet one inch in the shot put and 116 feet nine inches in the discus gave her second place in those two events. Freshman Sarah Petzold finished third in the hammer throw and discus en route to being named Rookie of the Week.
This season marks the first year the Red Hawks have had to deal with Cortland in their conference. “There’s no way to stop them,” says Scalice of the track & field powerhouse which is also competing for the state title. RPI has won both the league and state title four years in a row, but they will need to dig deep across the board if they are planning on making a run for a five-peat.
The addition of Cortland’s strong program is an unfortunate hurdle for the understaffed program. At one point this year the team consisted of 70 men and 20 women, yet there are only eight coaches. The head coach works with hurdles, javelin, jumps, pole vault, distance, and two throwing coaches. In these specialized sports, however, it is common to have nearly double that number for a team of this size.
As always, injuries play a significant role in the appearance of the team this year. Scalice suffered a cartusian in her right knee—the one she takes off with—during the third indoor meet this year. This nasty bruise to her cartilage put her out for five weeks unable to train until spring break. Junior sprinter Alhassane Diallo is also out with an injury.
The team will be at Springfield College on April 1, and will host the Liberty League Championships on April 15 at Harkness Field.
