Luke Flood
Equinox Staff
Track and field is no easy sport to keep up with but optimism is the spring theme for athletes and coaches.
With a demanding year-round schedule, athletes are pushed to their limits.
Runner Janel Haggerty is a veteran of this lifestyle and says the hardest part of all, specifically in regards to the transition from indoor to outdoor, would be the weather.
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“You can never really predict what the weather is going to be like. For example, if it’s unreasonably windy, it affects the runners, throwers, and jumpers, and if it’s rainy there will rarely be a cancellation,” she said.
Head Coach Peter Thomas also felt the same way about the matter.
“In any outdoor season we are truly at the mercy of the weather. If we get good Saturdays our stats will reflect that, but if it was to being raining on and off all the time, our athletes would have to adjust accordingly, which isn’t the easiest thing to do.”
Haggerty went on to say, “There is also a higher level of competition in this outdoor season due to the amount of schools that are now involved. When you have schools with these nice outdoor facilities right around the corner, compared to Keene that does not even have a track on the campus, you can see how much more we have to work just to keep up.”
But Coach Napolitano had a different outlook on the level of competition.
Opposing Haggerty’s belief that the outdoor season is harder for the athletes, Napolitano said, “The one outstanding component of the indoor season is the fact that not many schools have indoor facilities. Therefore, we find ourselves going to places like Boston University, Harvard, Northeastern, and so on, so we face a lot of Division I competition. Adding to that would be the fact that our team goals in each season are different. Going to these huge meets in the indoor season we want to see better individual scores and improvements and some of the time we won’t even place anybody, but progress is key. At the outdoor meets we like to score higher as a team. So it’s a little different between the two seasons, but generally the teams we face in the indoor season elevate the level of play.”
With the indoor track season concluding and outdoor season a short two weeks away, Napolitano said, “I think our expectations were met in some regards and fell short in others. On one hand you have the freshmen who performed extremely well, but on the other you have the upperclassmen that were a little bit inconsistent. The good part of the situation is the fact that the year is half done and the jitters are out and we are ready to compete.”
Putting all personal beliefs aside, both coaches as well as players can agree on one matter; preparation is key and being that Keene does not have a track, it adds to the already present obstacles the season already consists of.
“If you were to ask the athletic director whether or not he wanted a track I can assure you he would say yes, but unfortunately things aren’t that easy. It’s hard for a lot of freshmen to grasp the idea of no home events, no senior days, and having to be on the road all day Saturday and maybe even for the whole weekend,” Napolitano said.
“But the players who can shake that off are the ones that will truly succeed. It’s a certain mentality that is acquired. For all individual sports, of which track and field is included, there is this certain tenacity and a feeling that losing is not acceptable that will pave the road to success,” he said. Napolitano continued, “Someone who uses the fact that the training becomes harder due to lack of facilities will not succeed. It is not arrogance, but confidence in one’s self. A confidence that no matter what, even when all odds are against you, in any situation, that you can still prevail.”
Luke Flood can be contacted at lflood@keene-equinox.com