BENNINGTON, Vt. — Southern Vermont College will begin its second year of varsity outdoor track & field competition this Saturday as the Mountaineers look to continue building the program and set additional school records.
SVC is slated to participate in six meets this spring, hoping to have individuals qualify during that time for postseason championships set to take place in May. The Mountaineers have 15 student-athletes ready to chart new school records with 11 of those team members competing in collegiate track & field for the first time. Additionally, three of the athletes hail from Bennington College, being the first from BC to see action in the sport since the Southern Vermont-Bennington athletics consortium was formed in the summer of 2014.
"I think we're going to do really well," commented SVC second-year head coach Kathleen Newton. "Generally, we look at the first meet to see where they're at as far as their training goes, speed-wise, technique, that kind of thing. The expectation is there, but it's also sort of a benchmark to see where we're at right now."
Last year's inaugural track & field squad had the opportunity to set 12 record marks, 11 of those being running events. This season's crew will pursue breaking those times and distances while looking to expand on the program's record book as newcomers will be competing in additional field events.
"We're still really in the infantile stages of the program — it's only the second year," Newton continued. "I think it's a fun thing for them to know that they can set records right away. I think we're in a good place because, watching them in the workouts, they're all doing really well. The workouts we've been doing this year have been much harder than we did last year, and a lot of it is because we haven't had the snow to deal with. I think that they're physically ready and that they're also in a better place competing-wise this year."
Among those returning to the team are senior Cameron Michael Curtiss (Milton, Vt.) and junior Shelby Whitman (Bennington, Vt.), the two Southern Vermont captains.
Curtiss, a distance runner, was also the captain for SVC's 2015 New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's cross country championship-winning team. He also ran his way to the 2014 Men's Cross Country All-NECC Second Team during Southern Vermont's first-ever conference title push. He ran the third-fastest time last year in the men's 15000 meter race with a mark of 4:38.59.
Whitman, another distance runner and 2015 captain of the SVC cross country team, also comes back to the track from another outstanding fall season. She finished second overall at the 2015 NECC Championship to make the All-conference First Team after winning the league's 2014 title meet to be the NECC Runner of the Year. Whitman set three Southern Vermont records last spring, finishing with the best times in each the women's 400 meter dash (1:05.10), 800 meter run (2:38.00), and 1500 meter run (5:22.70).
Additional returners to the team include junior Aden Fischer (Arlington, Vt.) who chalked up the third-best time in the men's 800 meter race last year (2:14.90) and sophomore Patrick McGovern (Cheshire, England) who set the program's top 100 meter dash time (11.27).
SVC will see a number of newcomers make their mark on team history with a few of them ready to be the first Mountaineers to participate in certain events. Freshman Isaiah Backels (Derry, N.H.), who also ran for the men's 2015 NECC cross country championship team, brings four years of high school experience as a pole vaulter to the collegiate venue as he competed in the event at his Pinkerton Academy. Sophomore runner Marc Brandmeyer (Bennington, Vt.) will also be seeing his first collegiate track & field action after being the two-time NECC Runner of the Year over the last two falls.
Additionally, sophomore Danielle Simmons (Rensselaer, N.Y.), a two-year player for Southern Vermont's women's basketball team, and classmate Tanisha Wright (Brooklyn, N.Y.) have been working hard at the shot put during the preseason, preparing themselves to set high marks for the Mountaineers in the discipline.
"I'm really looking forward to this first meet in general because it feels like we've been practicing for so long, and now we're finally getting a chance to compete," Newton added. "It's kind of nice to have a variety of athletes; they're all encouraging of one another during practice and support each other. This season is going to be fun."
Southern Vermont is set to open up its 2016 campaign this Saturday at the Bears Invitational hosted by Bridgewater State University. For the complete SVC schedule, please visit: http://svcathletics.com/sports/otrack/2015-16/schedule.