Runners explode off the blocks to begin a race at the Nazareth Conference Challenge Cup on Saturday Jan. 28 in Rochester. The Knights will compete in Ithaca on Saturday Feb. 1 at the Bomber Invitational (Courtesy of Jordan Silver).
The indoor track and field season started slow for the Knights at Nazareth on Dec. 6. This was followed by their intersession training and the RIT Invitational on Jan. 18, with the most recent meet occurring Jan. 25 at Nazareth once again.
With the Knights training through the first three meets, they haven’t put out their strongest performances but are expecting to start putting better numbers on the board as the season progresses.
Multi’s athlete junior Kristen Zarcone explains their intersession saying, “We just are basically working out for three to four hours a day. Two hours, twice a day. It's really good for team bonding. It's just a lot of fun. Just working really hard, being sore.”
At the opening meet at Nazareth, sophomore Josh Feldburg and senior Zachary Curran both placed first in their events, the triple jump and pole vault, respectively. The women’s side faired a bit better, winning six events with senior Jennifer Joseph placing first in the triple jump, sophomore Anna Flaitz winning the 300-meter and sophomore Emily Salvemini taking first in the long jump.
Both teams had similar performances at the RIT Invitational, ramping up to the Nazareth College Cup where both teams performed better than at previous meets. The women’s team took third and the men’s team took second at the Nazareth meet.
“A lot of guys ran really well last week at Nazareth. So, all that training is starting to show sort of [our progression] through the season,” said senior sprint captain Ryan Dwyer. “A lot of people really just broke out this week. We’re expecting a lot more to come next week as more guys are starting to go to the specialty events. Championship season is getting a little closer and we're going to hopefully drop some more [good] times.”
At Nazareth, top performances were marked by first-year thrower Greg Cole-Allen in the shot put, sophomore sprinter Joey Saxton’s third-place finish in the 400-meter and senior distance runner Justin Hoezl’s third-place finish in the mile for the men’s team. The team finished with 108 points, just shy of first place.
On the women’s side, sophomore multi’s athlete Emily Lavarnway had three top-five finishes. She came in fifth in the 60-meter dash, fifth in the long jump and anchored the winning 4x400 meter relay, running with teammates Flaitz, sophomore sprinter Madison Mulder and first-year sprinter Jessica Nischo. The team finished with 105 points, just shy of first and second place.
When it comes to the team’s strengths and weaknesses, Zarcone and Dwyer agree that the team’s biggest strength is the time they put into their training. “I think our strength comes from our work ethic. We're not like the other schools where we have these really nice over the top indoor facilities to train in,” Dwyer said. “So, our success—even over these schools who have more funding toward their [programs] —is impressive considering we run in the intramural sport gym.”
Zarcone explains that one weakness for the team is just how large they are, which makes it more difficult to develop good team chemistry.
Looking forward, Zarcone summarized the goals for the Knights this season saying, “I think we'll have the same goal that we've had for the past few years, [which] is [to] just go in and win the conference for both men and women. Then do the same in the region and try and get as many people to qualify for nationals as we can.”
Geneseo will next compete at the Bomber Invitational hosted by Ithaca on Saturday Feb. 1 and Sunday Feb. 2.