The University of Rhode Island men’s track & field team has now won four straight Indoor Track & Field Atlantic 10 conference championships which is the longest streak in conference history.
Over the weekend, URI men’s track & field won another A-10 title, their 10 th title in the last 14 years. They have now won a total of 30 A-10 championships between former coach John Copeland and current Head Coach Trent Baltzell. No other team in the A-10 has matched that in the history of the conference.
The team scored 227 total points, and second place was the George Mason University Patriots with 142 points. The point differential between URI and George Mason was the same as George Mason and sixth place finisher, the Saint Joseph’s University Hawks. URI’s 227 points is the most scored by any A-10 school since the Virginia Tech Hokies back in 2000, however the Hokies only competed in a field of seven other schools.
The Rams have essentially taken over the sport of track and field within the A-10 since VT’s departure, and, while now under a new regime, Baltzell still attributes his success to Copeland.
“Outside of my family this thing is really my life,” Baltzell said. “I identify with URI track and so anytime we get this win it’s really special to me.”
Baltzell competed at URI from 2009 to 2014 and was Copeland’s personal pick to lead the program after his retirement in June of 2021. Baltzell has made it clear that winning the Atlantic 10 is the team’s most important goal every year. Setting the bar high and succeeding every season has led to Baltzell being named Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year for the fourth time in his career.
“There is nothing compared to the excitement of A-10s,” Baltzell said. “There is a totally different mindset to this meet, it’s the priority for us.”
Third-year Jarrett Young, one of the most successful 200-meter runners in program history, agreed with this sentiment. Young holds multiple top-10 records at URI for the 200-meter and has won the event five times, twice at the A-10 championship. Young is also a part of multiple 4×400 teams that hold school records.
“This one is always my biggest meet of the year,” Young said. “That’s why I do the 400 double because these championship meets are the meets that matter the most to us.”
The athletes were expected to bring their best, according to Baltzell, and based on the results they clearly did. The Rams won five events and reached the podium 12 times, not including the times that they won. That is 18 total times that the Rams either won or placed top three, from events like the 400-meter dash to the Heptathlon.
Young defended his 200-meter title with a time of 21.43 seconds. Young also placed second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.08 seconds. This performance led to Young being named Atlantic 10 Most Outstanding Track Performer.
In the 60-meter dash, third-year Tristan Howard would finish second with a time that on its own set an A-10 record. Howard ran it in 6.728, however Virginia Commonwealth University first-year Emmanuel Oche ran it in 6.727.
Fifth-year Colin Ochs won the 1000-meter with a time of 2:26.38 minutes. Earlier in the season, Ochs set the A-10 record in the 1000-meter with a time of 2:21.57 minutes. Ochs also holds the URI program record in the 800-meter and is top 10 in the mile as well as the 800-meter.
Fourth-year Chris Tavarone also defended his A-10 title in the shot put with a throw of 55’ 8.50’’. In second was first-year Theo Puterbaugh with a toss of 52’ 8.50’’, and in fifth was fifth-year Devin Donahue throwing it 49’ 4.50’’.
Donahue also won the Heptathlon for URI with 5,315 points. The Heptathlon is an event comprising seven different parts. In second place for this event was third-year Ryan Tona who finished with 5,219 points, and in fourth place was first-year Damian Scouloukas with a score of 4,606.
In the high jump, fourth-year Matt Santy won with a jump of 6’9 ¼’’, and, according to Baltzell, was on a different level that day.
“There was something different about him this weekend,” Baltzell said. “It was the energy that he brought to the team that day, he was just at a totally different level and to be honest I’m not sure what got into him that day but I hope we see more of going forward.”
That the energy that Santy brought early on day two really amped up the team and contributed to a quick turnaround after the team was down two points after day one according to Baltzell.
While the Rams have seemed to reach the peak of conference success, this isn’t the end of the road for this team according to Baltzell and Young.
“We compete really well in the A-10 in the north but we want to be recognized worldwide,” Young said. “Our goal is to take our talents to the national stage and that’s where we want to excel.”
The Rams will have a chance to be recognized around the nation when NCAA Regionals start on March 8th.
“This is a conference championship team that was specifically made for that,” Baltzell said. “The University of Connecticut is the standard and as they get better we get better and we will keep chasing them and if we ever reach that standard then we can compete with any team in the country.”
The next meet for the A-10 winners will be the New England Championship and the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America championship, both of which will be happening over the weekend in Boston. Balztell said he will be splitting up his team to compete in both events. Those meets will be on March 1st and 2nd at the TRACK at New Balance.