The men's track and field team kicked off its season over the weekend at the annual Husky Winter Carnival meet at Northeastern University.
The meet featured over 20 schools and was non-scoring, meaning it has no long-term significance for the team. As a result, the team ran mostly freshmen and sophomores in order to see what they are capable of and gauge their positions on the team.
Several freshmen put on strong performances at the meet.
In the 400 meters, freshman Merlin Boone finished 27th out of 70 runners while freshman Jeff Ragazzini came in 16th out of over 60 in the 3,000. In the pole vault, freshman Sam Read, who has a better high school personal record than anyone on the team, came in 11th.
"The freshmen are looking really strong," senior quad-captain Nathan Scott said. "A lot of them are coming in immediately as leaders. We expect a lot out of them, and we expect them to score some points for us at Division III New Englands."
One of the best performances from the rookie class came from Frank DeSalvo. He finished sixth in the high jump with a height of 6'2'', and also 13th in the long jump.
"A lot of people came out really well today," DeSalvo said. "Even though I wasn't here, I've heard a lot about the seniors we lost from last year, like Fred Jones. I think at least in the jumps department, the younger classes will bring a lot of talent up. I think we'll provide a lot of scoring for the team early on."
The freshmen were not the only ones to have a strong day. Many sophomores had impressive finishes in their respective events.
Most impressive was the finish in the 1,000 meters by sophomore Billy Hale. Hale ran a time of 2:34.37, less than three seconds behind the leader and good enough for a third-place finish.
"I was really excited when they announced the times," Hale said. "It felt really good running, but I had no idea how fast I was going."
In the 55-meter hurdle preliminaries, sophomore Ikenna Acholonu came in 10th, just two spots away from qualifying for the finals.
Three more Jumbos had top-20 finishes, as sophomore Jason Hanrahan finished 16th in the 800 meters, while sophomore Scott Brinkman and freshman Matt Keefer came in 12th and 18th respectively in the 500. Brinkman's strong showing was particularly encouraging, as he was plagued by a hamstring injury for much of last winter.
"It feels really great to come back," Brinkman said. "Being the first race of the year, it feels great to run healthy. I really expect only to improve and hopefully peak at the end of the season."
One of the only seniors to compete at the meet was quad-captain Dan Marcy, who is returning from a year of injury. Many on the team point to Marcy, an All-American in his sophomore year, as the person most capable of replacing Fred Jones and what he contributed. In the triple jump - a Jones specialty - Marcy looked the part, finishing third among almost 30 competitors.
The Jumbos now look to the Bates Pentathlon in a week, the team's last event before January.
While the Husky Carnival provided a good opportunity for freshmen and sophomores to gauge their progress, the Bates Pentathlon will provide a similar opportunity for older athletes. The meet is scored, but it is still held only a week into the season, limiting its impact.
The pentathlon's events are the 55-meter hurdles, long jump, high jump, shot put and 1,000-meter run. The Jumbos expect to perform well at the meet - especially with only four schools participating - and seem encouraged about their prospects for the rest of the year.
"I see a lot of big things," Scott said. "We're trying to place at least four at Nationals. We're trying to win Division IIIs. Every year we come in prepared. Everybody's already on track for a repeat of last year, and maybe even better."
