Dalton Charest
Equinox Staff
The Keene State College Men’s and Women’s Throw teams started the outdoor season in dominating fashion at the Mount Holyoke Spring Fling Invitational in South Hadley, Mass.
Winning seven of the eight events in the weekend meet, the Owls strung together a series of wins that contributed to the entire track and field team’s success which won 17 different events at the meet. In the field events, senior Whitney Cyr won the hammer with a 124’-0.8” throw. Sophomore Courtney Hartwell won the discus event with her 119’-03.00” mark, and junior Nicole Marrero won the javelin with a 112’02.00” toss.
Frank Poulin / Contributing by: Sports Information
KSC senior Glenn Guilmette hucks the javelin at the Mount Holyoke Spring Invitational on March 30, 2013.
Throwers from the men’s team Glenn Guilmette and sophomore Ben Keach set new stadium marks at the meet. Guilmette set his mark with a first place finish in the javelin throwing a 211’-03.00’. Keach kept the pace up by setting his own mark in the shot put throwing a 48’-03.25. He also repeated another first place finish in the discus, launching it 136’07.00, while freshman Robert Palazzo showed some young finesse of his own taking first place in the hammer posting a mark of 132’-9.00”.
KSC Track and Field throwing Coach John Napolitano said he was thoroughly impressed with his team’s display at the Invitational from both men and women. For a track meet that the team has never attended before in past seasons, there was much confidence within the athletes and coaches as well as many different sets of experiences accomplished from weekend trip.
“I expected to be the best team there throwing wise, and I think we definitely were,” Napolitano said. “We won seven of the eight events combined between the men and the women. I would have loved to have won all eight but that’s just how it goes sometimes. I thought everybody had a pretty good day, but last weekend wasn’t really all that important to us compared to the weekend coming up.” Guilmette’s throw over the weekend landed him with what currently is the longest throw in the country at the NCAA D-III level. An athlete who has been an All-American in past seasons and showed potential of obtaining a national championship in the event this season, Guilmette and company have been focusing their team building on the gym.
“It wasn’t a huge meet, which kind of made it not as crazy but it was really nice to see all my teammate’s progress like that and do as well,” Guilmette said. “Everyone is showing up to practices, getting into the gym and lifting. We have a good coach [Napolitano] who’s teaching us the proper techniques and really sharpening up our skills.”
“It’s good to see him out there where he was last year,” Napolitano said. “To be honest with you, I expect more out of him because this wasn’t even the track meet that potentially we should have done that well in. For him to throw that far all weekend with very little competition, you can’t help but smile at that.”
Guilmette is hoping to obtain a 70-meter mark as well as a national championship in the coming spring season.
Coach Napolitano’s group of athletes changed their ways in the gym and together as a whole are reaping from the awards. The change in the atmosphere within the gym is attributed much to athletes own drives.
“The last couple of years we were still figuring out the best way to train without a track, inside and no real facilities,” Napolitano said.
“Figuring out that now has been great I think. The people who did indoor track this year did a really nice job transitioning to outdoor track really quickly. Last year, I don’t feel like the guys did that good of a job with it.”
Senior thrower Sarah Ditonno–who finished fourth in the hammer behind teammates Cyr and sophomore Samantha Folland, who finished in second–said that the success has been much more than just dedication in the gym.
“The team seems really connected and together ready to help each other out so I’m hoping that we’re going to do well,” Ditonno said.
“I think our team bond is a lot stronger than it was last year. A lot of last year I think concentrated on it as an individual sport and didn’t really concentrate on the team aspect of it. It just makes the environment a lot better.”
Next week the team will be traveling to Fitchburg State where competition will surely be reinforced, according to Napolitano. Teams from Bates College, Colby-Sawayer College and the University of Southern Maine, which recently won the Indoor Track and Field Little East Championship, will be in attendance. Coach Napolitano hopes it will be a weekend that will allow the team to flex their muscles to the competition.
“I expect big things this weekend as I said training wise, this is a weekend we’re kind of working towards,” Napolitano said. “Just about everybody will be at a good level this coming weekend. You never know what’s going to happen but for the most part, I think this weekend’s going to be a pretty successful weekend in its own. Do I think we’re going to dominate like Mount Holyoke? No, because the competition is better. What I’m hoping for is some new personal bests for some of the guys, some key marks, and basically building confidence that my throwers can compete with their throwers.”
Napolitano’s next step after the Fitchburg meet, is to get six or seven throwers to regionals and hopefully qualify for the “Big Dance” that is D-III Nationals.
“Moving forward into the outdoor season, I really only think things will continue to get better,” Napolitano said.
Dalton Charest can be contacted at
dcharest@keene-equinox.com