After finishing in fifth place this weekend at the Brown Invitational, the University of Rhode Island’s men’s track and field team left the event, reflecting on their performances and continuing to improve as the team looks onto the conference championship.
On Saturday, the field team sent 10 athletes to compete in the 60-meter final, 60-meter preliminaries, high jump, pole vault, long jump, shot put and weight throw events at Brown University.
Fifth-year Davon Tate finished first in the long jump of 7.14 meters and third in the 60-meter preliminaries at 7.03 meters, however he wasn’t placed in the 60-meter final. First-year Rowan McConkey finished second in the high jump at 1.97 meters and 10th in the long jump with a leap of 6.21 meters. First-year Damian Scouloukas placed first in the pole vault and landed 4.55 meters, 6.70 meters in the long jump, being placed fifth and 19th in the shot put at 9.52 meters. Fourth-year Neil Waldhausen was second in the pole vault and touched down at 4.40 meters. Second-year Alex Destefano also came down at 4.40 meters in the pole vault, finishing third.
First-year Theo Puterbaugh was first in the shot put with a throw of 16.31 meters. First-year CJ McDermott placed fourth and tossed a shot put for 14.57 meters. First-year Sam Meleshenko finished eighth in the shot put with a lob of 12.48 meters and first in the weight throw with a 15.33 meter throw. Third-year Isaiah Webster and first-year Nathan Park did not place in their events.
Tate said he was annoyed that he didn’t finish in the 60-meter final. He also described his performance in the long jump.
“Honestly, that was my best meet technique-wise because I had a pretty rough season with hitting the board,” Tate said. “I don’t know why that’s been a problem for me this season.”
URI Head Coach Trent Baltzell, who is in his second year coaching the team, gave his thoughts on how the team performed on Saturday.
“The guys we brought to the meet did pretty well,” Baltzell said. “The placings weren’t really a concern of ours at all. It was just about seeing where our guys were at relative to what they’ve done in the past. We had a lot of personal and season best as well, and I’d say, all in all, it was probably the most successful meet we’ve had this year.”
Baltzell shared his expectations for the Atlantic 10 Championship.
“I’d say we’re pretty ready to go,” Baltzell said. “We’ll bring 32 guys down to Virginia Beach to try and win another title. I would be surprised if we didn’t have a high percentage of personal best at this meet and, hopefully, a lot of podium performances and some individual wins. I think our team is as good as it’s ever been right at this time of the year, maybe the best it’s ever been. So, hopefully, we can prove that.”
Tate explained what the team’s mindset is currently.
“Honestly, right now, everyone is fired off, everyone is doing their thing,” Tate said. “We’ve had a lot of good guys this weekend. Everyone is breaking PRs [personal records], everyone is just moving up, and everyone is staying healthy, which is the most important part…honestly, everyone has a fire underneath them. I can see it, I see it at practice, I see it at meets,” said Tate.
Baltzell also gave additional praise to the team.
“I think our team is as good as it’s ever been right at this time of the year, maybe even the best it’s ever been,” said Baltzell.
As the men’s team looks to defend their title, they will travel to Virginia for the Atlantic 10 Championship on Feb. 23 and Feb. 24.