Dillon Flanigan- Sports Editor
The track and field team reached new heights, capturing another NE10 Championship. This conference championship will make their seventh consecutive title in a row.
The Owls have stood at the top of the conference for all seven years, and this championship was more historical due to the youth and depth of the team.
“We’re young. We have always been young, but this year we are very young,” Assistant Coach Brian Nill said.
The men’s track team racked up 238 points at the end of the weekend. The Owls had people in almost all the important events, winning sprints, distance, and mid-distance, along with the relays and field events.
Sprinter, Nolan Freeman, a sophomore, scored fourteen individual points, as he came second in the 60-meter dash and then third in the 200-meter dash.
The Owls also scored points in the 400-meter dash. Hunter Dale, a junior, came in second along with Sam Sandler, a freshman.
The Owls are considered the best in the conference. Being able to keep the conference title for so long comes with great leadership. Since this is a young team, the older athletes set the standard and mentality going into every season.
Standout Jonathan Volpe, a junior, was also a key factor in the point scoring, as he won the one-mile run and 800-meter run. In the 800-meter, the university took the top three spots. In order, Volpe, Marquis Whyte, a junior, and Jack Mulcunry, a freshman, scored a total of 24 points between the three of them.
“We come with intensity everyday,” Whyte said. “Being ready mentally and physically is key also.”
The Owls have a strong distance and middle-distance group. These events came easy to the Owls as most long-distance runners are coming off of a cross country conference title.
Volpe won the one-mile title, while sophomore Owen Gagne came in third, scoring most of the points in that event. The Owls also locked up points in the 3000-meter and 5000-meter run. All of these runners are on the cross country team as well.
“We push each other everyday and make each other better,” Volpe said.
Rounding out the points on the track is the relays. The Owls have always been known for their relay teams, and they performed as usual. The Owls took home the 4×800-meter relay title along with the 4×400-meter relay and distance medley relay.
In the field events, the Owls left their mark as well. The Owls took home titles in the shot put and weight throw, scoring big chunks of points for the Owls in the end.
The Owls have a continued dominance and leadership that gets them through every season. This dominance comes from a winning culture from past groups who graduated.
“The thing that makes us great are the groups that were here three, four, five years ago. That’s what builds our winning culture,” Dylan Torok, a junior, said.
The winning and dominance in the conference does not look to be slowing down anytime soon. If anything, it gets better every year.
