FITCHBURG, Mass. – The spring non-traditional track season continued for a handful of Southern Vermont College student-athletes this past Saturday at the Jim Sheehan Memorial Meet hosted by Fitchburg State University.
Despite the weather being colder, making it tougher to run fast times, all the competing Mountaineers managed to improve upon their marks from the previous event at Mt. Holyoke College last Saturday.
Two female runners participated in the 1500 meter race with freshman Haley Omasta (Danbury, Conn.) and freshman Casey Geary (Bradford, R.I.) both competing in the third heat. They ran the first lap in under 90 seconds, but then fell off the pace and finished with times of 6:15 and 7:30, respectively. That was six seconds better for Omasta while Geary was running her first event of the spring.
On the men’s side, sophomore Victor Velazquez (Los Angeles, Calif.) then competed in the third heat of the 1500 meter event, executing his race place to perfection and hitting his desired splits to the second on the first two laps. He then pushed himself a bit harder and was able to run the final 800 meters three seconds faster than he did a week earlier and five seconds faster than his first 800. His 4:31 time was good enough for 24th overall in a 53-man field, putting him in the top half of finishers in a tough collegiate race.
"Finishing in the top half of the field today is a huge accomplishment,” said head coach Maria Stuber. “At these track meets, we are competing against runners that have been training specifically for these shorter events since December. Although we are training hard right now, our focus is still on cross country. I am thrilled to see such huge improvements for Victor; he is basically racing on base training and I hope it means really big things for him in the fall."
Freshman Cameron Curtiss (Milton, Vt.) then competed in the fourth heat of the 1500 meter, his first ever in an organized event. He finished ninth with a time of 5:04, doing an excellent job of carrying out his conservative race plan. Curtiss finished in his typical fashion of putting on the extra burners and passing a few runners down the stretch in the final 400 meters. Coach Stuber expects him to continue to drop times quickly as he figures out how to handle the higher intensity of the shorter events.
In something atypical for a cross country runner, Geary competed in the 100 meter dash, finishing with a respectable 16.18 seconds in the fourth heat. Stuber was proud of the passion and drive with which Geary ran the race, being the only one without using starting blocks and in cross country flats for footwear.
In the final event for Southern Vermont, three Mountaineers competed in their respective 800 meter races. Omasta was the fifth across the line in the fourth heat, finishing in 3:01, a full two seconds faster than her time a week earlier. Velazquez crossed in 2:11, third in the third heat and 17th overall. It was Velazquez’s first 800 this year, but he did 20 seconds better than when he ran it in 2012. Curtiss also competed in his first 800 of the year and his collegiate career, finishing fourth in the fourth heat with a time of 2:26.
The Mountaineers will travel back to Fitchburg State on Saturday, April 20 for their final spring event at the Eric Loeschner Meet.