Individual results highlight successful weekend
Another school record for URI men’s track and field fell this past weekend as the team continues with what has been a remarkable season so far.
With another strong showing this past weekend, the team looks and feels strong heading into the upcoming New England championships this Thursday and Friday.
The team competed at two separate meets this past weekend, the Boston University Terrier Classic and the Riverhawk Invitational. Despite the team being split between two meets, they managed to shine in both and showcase the talent and versatility that this team has.
At the BU Terrier Classic, fifth-year Eric Zulkofske broke the school record for the mile with a blazing time of 4:03.05, with teammates Tyler Rubush and Collin Ochs finishing right behind him with times of 4:03.56 and 4:06.99 respectively.
“It was the culmination of a lot of hard work, it’s nice to have something tangible to show for the training and preparation,” Zulkofske said, when asked about his record breaking performance and what it meant to him.
Looking forward to the New England Championships this week, Zulkofske emphasized that he and his teammates focus on team performance over individual success at the meet.
“We are putting a lot of focus and effort into the relays for this meet, we want to succeed more so as a team than individually,” Zulkofske said.
In addition to the stellar performances by the team at BU, the team members that competed at the Riverhawk Invitational managed to put on a show as well, with impressive performances and personal bests achieved in both track and field events.
Third-year Matt Santy placed first in the high jump with a height of 2.04 meters, and fifth year Jack Reichenbach finished second with a height of 2.04 meters. Second year standout Ryan Tona finished second in the high jump and seventh in the 60m hurdles with performances of 6.99 meters and 8.56 seconds respectively. Second year Martine McDonald also competed in the long jump, placing fifth with a mark of 6.72 meters.
URI assistant coach Brian Doyle expressed his satisfaction with both the performances and the team as a whole in both meets over the weekend.
“We have a great group of guys that are very coachable with high goals and have been working hard to reach them,” Doyle said.
As the season continues, Doyle emphasizes the high goals for the team.
“We are in a position where we can probably break every middle distance record, with Tyler [Rubush] and Eric [Zulkofske] going back and forth in different events competing with each other,” Doyle said.
With this past weekend being another instance of the team shining at multiple meets in the same weekend, when asked about the decision of which meets to send athletes to, Doyle emphasized the importance of setting the team up for success.
“It can be a challenge to manage multiple meets in the same weekend, but we care about putting our guys in the best possible position to succeed,” Doyle said.
With multiple broken school records already this season as well as numerous other equally impressive performances by the team, the sky’s the limit as the championship meet and end of the season approaches.