On Saturday, the University of Rhode Island men’s track and field team competed at the Riverhawk Invitational in Boston, Massachusetts.
Throughout the course of the Rams season only a single meet has been team scored, while the rest have been individually scored. While the Rams haven’t won a meet per se; over the course of the season the Rams have seen dozens of new entries into the schools’ top ten record book. On Saturday three new records were penciled in and a new conference record was set. At the Boston University Terrier Classic, URI only sent three athletes, one of them being fourth-year Collin Ochs. Ochs ran in the 1,000 meter, finishing it in 2:21.57 minutes. Ochs’ time was an Atlantic 10 conference record and placed him second while beating the school record by over three seconds and it’s his second entry on the top ten list for the 1,000 meter.
“When you have someone who has his capabilities you can count on him to be put into any event and succeed,” Rams Head Coach Trent Blatzell said.
Baltzell also praised Ochs for the progress that he has made with the program over his four years, and how breaking conference records does more than just win events for a program.
“He’s improved so much over the years,” said Baltzell. “You spell that out to recruits so they see what’s happening here and the improvements our guys make and it really does make a huge difference for us.”
The Rams have had plenty of success with their recruiting over Baltzell’s first three full seasons as head coach. The team currently features a long list of first-year athletes who are already knocking down some long-standing records.
Headlining the first-years is Nathan Schultz who is the reigning A-10 Rookie of the Week. Schultz competed in his first collegiate 60 meter dash where he would finish 10th with a time of 7.19 seconds, just .23 seconds away from breaking into the top 10 in program history. Another first-year who’s made an immediate impact for this Rams team is Alex Arbogast. Arbogast broke his own personal record in the 60 meter dash this Saturday with a time of 6.86 seconds. This was Arbogast’s sixth time running the event at the collegiate level and he now holds URI’s fourth and tenth best times in program history.
“If we got a class like this every single year I think we’d be in pretty good shape for the long haul,” Baltzell said. “It’s making a difference, we have a lot of really good and highly touted prospects signed up and ready to go so it’s very exciting.”
It’s not just the younger guys – Rhody’s third and fourth years who have been here for three straight indoor conference championships are difference makers as well. On Saturday, third-year Jarrett Young placed second in the 400 meter with a time of 47.86 seconds
“Jarrett Young is starting to come around quite a bit in his sprinting events as well,” Baltzell said. “We have a lot of older guys who are doing well and we know that we can lean on.”
Another step in Young’s development would be very impressive considering that the sprinter is top 10 in program history in the 60 meter, 200 meter, 400 meter, 4×400 meter and he won the 200 meter at last year’s indoor conference championship.
Other runners who finished top ten at the Riverhawk Invitationals include second-year Owen Fleischer and third-year Kai Schmidt Bilowith. Fleischer’s 2:28.36 minutes in the 1,000 meter was a personal best and Bilowith’s run of 8.29 second in the 60 meter hurdles placed him sixth.
In the field, second-year Matthew Santy finished second in the high jump with a leap of 2.0 meters. For the pole vault it was third-year Mason Brubaker finishing second reaching 4.65 meters. Then in the triple jump another first-year, Damian Scouloukas, placed eighth, reaching the mark of 13.77 meters.
In the weight throws, second-year Nathan Field nabbed sixth place with a toss of 15.95 meters. For the weight throw invitational, second-year Alexander Baez tossed it 18.71 meters, good enough for fifth.
Even with all of these top ten finishes at a rather large meet, Baltzell believes his guys are capable of more.
“We haven’t necessarily exceeded my expectations so far this season on an individual level at least,” said Baltzell. “Some guys are doing great but there are a number of guys who are only going to get started over these next couple weeks.”
This a good time for Baltzell’s guys to kick it into high gear as championship season is fast approaching and the Rams will aim to win their fourth straight A-10 indoor championship. To win a fourth straight would be unheard of in the modern era of the A-10, as no program has done it since the late 1990’s when the Virginia Tech University Hokies accomplished it before leaving for the Big East in 2001. However, Baltzell is humble, mentioning that injuries and the timing of it all remains key.
“We’ll hope to contend for another title and I think we have a real good chance to keep our streak alive,” said Baltzell. “There is a lot that can happen and we still have three weeks till A-10s and guys can get sick or hurt and those are the kind of things that can really turn a meet around.”
The Rams have had plenty of individual success so far this season but with the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship just a month away, it’s important that they start to find their stride and stay healthy according to Baltzell. They’ll compete again Friday and Saturday at the Harvard Elite in Cambridge, Massachusetts.