On Feb. 24, two local siblings helped contribute to the University of Rhode Island’s championship success at the Atlantic 10 Indoor Track and Field Championships in Virginia Beach.
The men’s team was looking to build a dynasty by winning their fourth straight indoor championship, and seventh straight A-10 title. The women’s team, on the other hand, was competing for their first A-10 title in over 15 years. Erynn and Nate Field, siblings who grew up in North Kingstown, have worked with each other since childhood and have helped URI’s track and field teams to their recent success.
Nate and Erynn both compete in the weight throw event. Erynn is a fifth-year studying kinesiology and Nate is a second-year studying engineering. They both thrive off each other and learn from one another on ways to fine-tune their skills.
URI was neither of the siblings’ first choice. It wasn’t even in their top five. They wanted to get as far away from home as possible.
“I was actually [verbally] committed to [The University of Connecticut],” Erynn said. “Then my coaches told me just to check out URI and see what I think, and I absolutely fell in love with the team and coaching staff.”
After that tour, URI eventually offered her a spot on the roster, and she officially signed her National Letter of Intent a day later, on Dec. 21, 2018. She has shown out for this team ever since that day, finishing first place in the weight throw in this year’s New England Championship.
That success didn’t come without adversity, as Erynn suffered season-ending injuries in her second and fourth years while also losing her first year to the COVID-19 pandemic. To combat this constant loss of time, Erynn said she continually worked with her coaches, teammates and athletic trainers to make sure that she could be the very best athlete she could be for the team.
Nate had played football his entire life and only started track his junior year in high school, after the head coach of the team tracked him down and, in his own words, “kind of forced [Nate]” to join the team. Nate said he had never really considered competing in track and field past high school – his true passion was football.
He even had conversations with URI football Head Coach Jim Fleming about potentially joining the team. As Nate was going through the process of looking at schools to potentially play college football, he came to a disappointing realization.
“College football didn’t really fill my interests about where I thought it would take me,” Nate said. “I knew I probably wouldn’t get a lot of playing time to start off with.”
So, after some convincing from Erynn, Nate decided to pursue college track and field and reached out via email to URI Head Coach Trent Baltzell and Throwing Coach Ben Carroll to see if he could earn a walk-on spot.
While his numbers did end up being lower than the usual requirements for walk-ons for the team, he said Baltzell ended up giving him a shot anyway. That shot ended up paying off, as Nate recently finished fifth in the A-10 tournament, contributing four points for the team.
“Nate has an awesome work ethic,” Baltzell said. “For Nate to come in with his size and his work ethic, I think it definitely bodes well for him in the future.”
Currently, Nate is a three-time A-10 track and field champion, back-to-back New England champion and an Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America champion. Nate said he is looking to be the next leader of the weight throwers with fourth-year Alexander Batz graduating this year.
The last time URI had this much success from a weight throwing team was the 1934 weight throwing team that won a national championship, led by historic URI athlete and coach Fred Tootell. Tootell’s success eventually led to the aquatic center being named after him. Erynn, meanwhile, gets to finish her career URI with her brother, all her individual accomplishments and one last opportunity to collect an A-10 championship at the outdoor meets this spring.
But now let’s go back to that day, Feb. 24, in Virginia Beach. Erynn and her team are all together congratulating each other on their seventh-place performance, but Erynn is paying more attention to her little brother, whom she has watched grow up over his entire life.
Nate is someone she helped mold into the athlete he has become “since the first day he picked up a hammer and a weight,” Erynn said.
As she watched Nate lift the trophy that says Atlantic 10 Champions on it with the biggest smile on his face, Erynn said she and her parents couldn’t do anything else but “have the biggest smile on theirs.”