The verdict is in: the members of the Boston University men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams were not as lazy as average college students over winter break, despite coaches’ original fears. Both teams performed well this weekend at the new BU Track and Tennis Center in their first meets after break, posting respectable results and many noteworthy performances.
The men welcomed seven other teams to the new facility on Saturday afternoon, falling only to the University of Rhode Island and finishing in a deadlock with Boston College at 90 points. The victorious Rams blew away the competition with a score of 175. The University of Maine, the College of the Holy Cross, Quinnipiac University, Sacred Heart University and Central Connecticut State University finished behind BU and BC.
‘I was very pleased considering we just got back to school,’ said BU men’s coach Pete Schuder. ‘We had some great performances across the board.’
The best of those performances were posted by the 3000-meter tandem of seniors Liam Revell and Rob Wong, who took 1-2 in the race with times of 8:27 and 8:29, respectively. Junior Jochen Dieckfoss managed to grab fifth at 8:43 despite coming off sickness and injury.
‘Liam and Rob did very well; they both had personal bests,’ Schuder said. ‘For Revell to run that well, I was really pleased. We need to have those distance guys come through for us, since they were decimated [by injury] after cross country.’
Freshmen Phil Putis and Spencer Bellot are well on their way to bolstering that distance squad with good performances in the 800 meters. Putis and Bellot grabbed fifth and ninth, running a 1:56 and a 1:57, respectively.
‘The 800 is an event where we have had good guys in the past, but recently it has been an empty event for us,’ Schuder said, hoping the two freshmen can improve the Terriers’ contribution from that event.
The Terriers’ best strength came through, however, in the events around the quarter-mile distance. Junior captain Matt Adler had an outstanding day, winning the 200 (22.43 seconds) and the 400 (48.51 seconds) meter races. Sophomore Andre Nacaxe also took first, with his win coming with a 1:04.15 in the 500. BU also had strong support behind the frontrunners in many events, as sophomore Jeff McAulay took third in the 400, crossing at 50.11 seconds, and senior Chris Brandon grabbed second in the 200, just behind Adler at 22.49.
‘The quarter-mile group has come together quite nicely,’ Schuder said. ‘Matt Adler had a very good day. He is already running a [48-second 400] very easily, so I was really happy with his performance this early in the season.’
The Terrier 4×400 relay team, consisting of Nacaxe, Brandon, freshman Lucjan Zaborowski and senior Steve Deppe, rolled over the competition by a full six seconds over second place Maine with a time of 3:19.
Other notable BU performers included freshman Gabe Goldman (second, pole vault), senior Mike Coronado (sixth, shot put) and freshman Ryan Ung (fourth, triple jump). The field events were where Rhode Island pulled away, and Schuder admits it is a weakness of this team. Still, he is optimistic.
‘The guys are pretty high spirited,’ he said. ‘They feel good about where we are headed.’
The same is true on the women’s side, despite a third place finish out of four teams on Friday afternoon.
‘I think it definitely was a good performance,’ said BU women’s coach Lesley Lehane. ‘Coming off of a long break, you like to see the athletes stay the same. They have no access to facilities over break, so they can’t get good training in. They did a good job over break maintaining where they are at, which is what we are usually going for.’
In a frustrating weekend of Eagle victories, Boston College recorded another win in the women’s meet, scoring 91 points to outmatch the University of Massachusetts (59), BU (47) and Sacred Heart (24).
Two Terrier runners-seniors Lauren Warman and Sherida Bird-stood out with the best BU performances of the day. Warman took first in the 400 at 56.66 seconds, also coming in second in the 200 with a time of 25.97. Bird also grabbed a first and a second, with her win coming in the mile (4:55.63) and her second coming in the 3000 meters (10:19.56).
‘Lauren Warman had a great day,’ Lehane praised.
Senior Andrea Stuermer continued her dominance in the pole vault, winning with a vault of 3.70 meters. Sophomore Mary Ellen Bingham also had a good showing in the jumps, winning the triple jump by leaping 11.43 meters. She also grabbed fourth in the long jump by hitting the sand 5.17 meters away.
Both teams take to the track again this weekend, with the women racing in the Terrier Classic, and the men hosting the prestigious Terrier Invitational.