Last weekend, the men's track team bussed to Springfield College to compete in a tri-meet with the hosts and with Middlebury. The meet started off with a dynamite performance by James Boeding '14 in the 3000-meter steeplechase.
Racing over the barriers and water pit like a grizzled veteran, he ran 9:53.68, a time that qualies him for the NESCAC and D-III New England Championships.
The 4x100-meter relay team—Zach Winters '11, David Bean '13, Matthew Gamache '13 and Chris Martin '12—earned a second-place finish. As an added bonus, the race marked Martin's return from injury.
"Chris Martin gives us a lot more power in our lineup," said coach Peter Slovenski. "If we can keep him healthy, he'll have a terrific spring season."
The field event athletes turned in impressive performances as well. Throwers Tyler Silver '13 and Mason Moss '12 both finished fourth in the discus and javelin competitions. Matt Ramos '12 won the men's hammer throw while Alex Lucyk '12 won a very close pole vault competition. Sophomores Simon Ward and Eddy Page and senior Sean Healey finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively.
"We had some great field event performances," said Slovenski. "Matt Ramos and Alex Lucyk are very smart about the way they practice the hammer and pole vault. Those are very technical events, and an athlete needs intelligent training to succeed."
Bean and Gamache finished fourth in the open 200- and 400-meter dashes respectively. Gamache later would lead off the second-place 4x400 meter relay with Andrew Gluesing '13, Riker Wikoff '12 and Winters.
Wikoff also took fourth place in the 400-meter hurdles. In the shorter hurdle event, the 110-meter high hurdles, he finished third while sophomore teammate Sam Chick finished right behind him. In addition to his hurdle race, Chick grabbed second place in the triple jump with a leap exceeding 42 feet.
Junior Colin Fong and first year Nick Saba were part of an exciting 1500-meter race in which Fong decisively kicked away from the field within the last 150 meters. Saba finished in a flurry among the crowded field and nabbed fifth place.
Along with that, the men's 5K saw Matt Hillard '12 do his best impersonation of Julius Peppers as he dexterously maneuvered himself past three runners in the home straight to grab a third-place spot and run 15:18.94.
Senior Stan Berkow finished two tenths of a second behind him in fifth place with a time of 15:19.19.While the team was at Springfield, Eliot Bass '14 traveled to Bates to earn a qualifying mark in the decathlon. Based on his performance in 10 different events, Bass earned 4945 points and has qualified for the D-III New England Championships.
This weekend the team will be traveling to UNH to compete at the Wildcat Invitational.