Over the weekend, the men's track and field team enjoyed the beautiful weather, not at Spring Weekend on campus, but competing at the Husky Spring Invitational in Storrs, Conn. The Bears raced their way to a third-place finish, recording 125 points in the meet to finish just behind the University of Connecticut and the University of Rhode Island.
"In my last four years, I don't think any of our UConn meets had conditions like this," said javelin thrower Paul Rosiak '07. "You always try not to let the conditions make a difference in your approach going into a meet, but having calm, 60 degree-plus conditions as opposed to the cold rain we've had to deal with definitely adds a little something. It's much easier to get loose and stay loose throughout the competition."
Though the team often vows to make every event count in each meet, the Bears are focused on the Heptagonal Championships, now just two weeks away. This weekend's invitational was simply a practice run in perfect weather.
"As far as the team goes, all competitions are building towards Heps," said Jamil McClintock '08. "But for some individuals, every week, (the competitions are) used to get better individually and see how you stack up next to the scholarship athletes. I know personally, this meet was for me to win. I want to win every week, and that's all that's on my mind."
Many of the Bears seemed to have that same mentality as they posted several top-five performances, including two wins and numerous personal bests. McClintock started off the day strong in the 200-meter dash, an event that he does not typically compete in. He placed fourth with a time of 21.99 seconds and will look to improve on that when he races the event in the Ivy Championships.
"I am a hurdler, but I can also sprint," McClintock said. "I plan on running the 200 at Ivy League Championships, so I have to get a few races under my belt. It's fun for me to run without hurdles - it's so much easier."
A slew of Bears made the 800-meter run look easy. Four of them placed in the top 10 - Sean O'Brien '09, Christian Tabib '07, Duriel Hardy '10 and John Loeser '10 ran to third-, fourth-, eighth- and ninth-place finishes, respectively. O'Brien and Tabib both had breakthrough runs, posting times of 1:51.58 and 1:52.44. Hardy also ran the 1,500-meter event and finished fifth with a personal best of 3:57.66.
McClintock hurdled his way to a stunning first-place finish and a personal best of 14.04 seconds on the 110-meter hurdles. The exceptional time qualified him for the NCAA East Regional meet.
Brown was impressive in the throwing events as well. In the shot put, the Bears flexed their muscles as Bryan Powlen '10, Eric Wood '09 and David Howard '09 launched third-, fourth- and fifth-place throws with distances of 49-feet 1-inch, 47-9.5 and 47-7.25, respectively.
Powlen and Howard also took fourth and fifth, respectively, in the discus. But they were not the only throwers who doubled up on the day. Wood also launched a fourth-place effort in the hammer throw.
More personal bests came from Paul Rosiak '07 and Samuel Urlacher '09. Rosiak walked away from the javelin with a first-place finish and a regional qualifying distance of 219-feet 9-inches.
"The women had a great meet before us, and Coach Lake made sure that we knew how well they did in hopes that it would carry over, which it obviously did," Tabib said. "At the end of the meet, we had everyone who (set a personal record) stand up, and it was obvious that we had a great day by the number of men who stood up."
The Bears hope that their hot streak will continue as they gear up for the end of their season.
"The Heptagonals has and will always be a great track meet in the Ivy League," Rosiak said. "It's a complete weekend of nothing but track and field with the entire team. The competition is great, and there is a strong sense of camaraderie among your teammates. At this point, we start to phase into a peaking stage in training, so there is more mental than physical work to do."
Some of this mental work even included picturing the perfect championship run.
"(My dream Heps) would be for everyone as a team to step up as a whole and run, throw, or jump to the best of their abilities," Tabib said. "As a senior, knowing that everyone left it all on the field would be a satisfying ending for me."
