The Cortland Men’s Track and Field team will be traveling to three separate locations; R.I.T., Ocean Breeze facility in Staten Island, and Boston University throughout the weekend depending on the event that you are in. This will be the only time during the indoor track season that this will occur.
It’s been a very successful season to start, as there have already been over 10 regional qualifiers for the team, as well as opening up with a top 5 ranking in the season, but since dropping down to #15 in the nation. With conference championship day approaching in two weeks, this would be a perfect weekend for everyone to get PR’s and really get into mid-season stride.
R.I.T. will be for all field events and some sprinters, ocean breeze will be for sprinters and some throwers, and Boston will be for the distance and 4×400 relay team.
This will be a good way for everyone to compete against great competition catered to their specific event, so that everyone can have an extremely successful weekend.
Zach Nyhart, a pole vaulter, currently sits at 3rd in the SUNYAC and 21st overall in the country. With a good week of practice heading into a meet at Ocean Breeze, Nyhart really wanted to “put more emphasis on technique before SUNYAC season” and “get more comfortable in a big-time meet kind of atmosphere.”
Thomas Burek, a thrower for the Red Dragons, talked about how excited he was to go to Staten Island. Despite the indoor meet being inside, he couldn’t wait to be down in some warmer weather with some special people.
“It’s supposed to be 60 degrees on Friday. Warm weather, regardless of it being indoor season, can help with just making you feel good. My mom grew up in Staten Island too, so having family come will also do me some good too.”
Burek also talked about how Ocean Breeze has a “great [throwers] circle, so I’m expecting to have a solid meet.”
When asking Rich Samuels, an 800 meter runner and All-American back in 2020, how the separation of the team works, he talked about how he feels as though he’s “seen this a thousand times before.” Samuels would go into more detail about the purpose of the splitting up of events.
“The meet you go to all really depends on your event. Some places are better for throwers, others for sprints, and then there’s some for jumpers as well. Coach normally sticks to this script every year to give everyone an opportunity to have a very good day in their events.”
A big weekend coming up for the Red Dragons, as there is much to be excited about. A big week for the team can go a long way with packing the bus for the conference championship in 2 weeks, as the men’s team is looking to break the 5 year spell of the SUNYAC conference title