The University of Rhode Island men’s track and field team looked to get back on track, literally and figuratively, opening their outdoor season by competing in the Raleigh Relays and Bryant Black & Gold Invitational over the weekend.
These are the team’s first meets since the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America Championships last month that completed their indoor postseason sweep.
“We just demand a lot from the guys towards the end of the indoor season with all the championship meets that we do,” URI Head Coach Trent Baltzell said. “So for the next few weeks following the indoor season, we kinda let [the athletes] take a nap.”
Rhody sent over 20 athletes to the Raleigh Relays, including fifth-year Ben Fleischer, who ran a program record time of 14:09.23 in the 5000 meter on Thursday. Other highlights from the meet include fourth-year Chris Tavarone, who finished sixth in the shot put with a distance of 17.20 meters, third-year Atlantic 10 Indoor Championship Most Outstanding Track Performer Jarrett Young, who finished 18th in the 400 meter with a time of 48.72 seconds, and fourth-year Matt Santy, whose sixth-place finish in the high jump cleared a height of 6’ 8.75”. That mark, combined with a 14th-place finish in the long jump with a distance of 23’, earned Santy Atlantic 10 Field Performer of the Week honors. His mark in the high jump was the highest anyone in the entire A-10 cleared so far.
The Bryant Black & Gold Invitational took place over Friday and Saturday where the rest of the Rhody athletes competed. Fourth-year Nathan Massi had a seventh-place finish in the 10,000 meter, crossing the finish line at 31:45.47 as one of three athletes to compete on Friday for Rhode Island. Other highlights from the meet on Saturday include first-year Rowan McConkey, whose 1.88 meter jump was good enough for second in the high jump, second-year Nate Field, who launched the hammer a distance of 53.09 meters to place fourth and fourth-year Neil Waldhausen, who took home first place in the pole vault clearing a height of 4.43 meters.
Waldhausen seemed unphased by the month-long break between competitions, still finishing in first in the pole vault, but that finish didn’t come without its struggles in the practices leading up to the meet.
“I was sharing poles with [fifth-year Devin Donahue], who was in Texas,” Waldhausen said. “It made practice a little more challenging this week for me.”
The Rams are the new A-10 “dynasty”, a moniker given to them by the fans and media, due to the team winning the A-10 championships in indoor and outdoor track a combined seven times in a row. Coaches and players understand the gravity that comes with winning their eighth straight.
“It definitely means a lot to them… these guys have never really experienced a loss,” Baltzell said. “They’re desperate to keep that streak alive, as is the coaching staff.”
Waldhausen agreed with Baltzell about the team’s mentality heading into the season.
“As a group, that winning mentality we have is just so strong,” Waldhausen said. “It doesn’t matter if we’ve won one or six [championships]; we still just want to win as bad as we did the first time.”
Baltzell also sees this season, along with the pressure that comes with winning the A-10 title at the end of the year, as an important moment for the development of all his athletes, regardless if they are first-years or fifth-years.
“Every single time we win, the pressure mounts and it gets more and more stressful it seems after every championship we go through,” Baltzell said. “At the same time, I think pressure for athletes like this is important and allows them to reach that next level of intensity and adds a little bit of adrenaline to their performance.”
Every first meet of a season comes with a bit of rust for teams, especially teams with such long and successful seasons as the Rams have had recently. So, Baltzell is grabbing some WD-40 and looking to get this team back in working shape so that everyone can perform at their best and hope to lift that A-10 trophy this May.
The Rams’ next meet is on April 7 at the University of Massachusetts Spring Invitational. The meet was rescheduled to a one-day event from its original plan of two days occurring on April 5 and 6 due to inclement weather.