In its third season, the St. Bonaventure men’s and women’s track program saw encouraging results. While no meets were won, records, personal and program, were set in high quantity.
This past weekend at the Atlantic 10 tournament in Amherst, Massachusetts, the women’s track team set six records. Some program, some personal.
Sydney Beeman, a junior, set two of those records, including the second-fastest time in program history with a time of 2:25:03 in the 800 meters.
Beeman, who has been dealing with a knee injury all season, said that this was her first time running in the 800 this year. Beeman said she did not expect to run that fast, let alone set the second-fastest time in program history.
“I was just going out there for fun,” said Beeman, laughing. “I knew that this was the last time I was going to run the 800. I didn’t expect to do that at all. Even when I got done, I didn’t know. I was excited, but shocked when I found out.”
Head coach Bob MacFarlane said that Beeman’s success all began with training, attitude and mental toughness. Despite Beeman’s setbacks, MacFarlane said that he was not shocked. “She trained hard, she worked hard and she deserved it,” said MacFarlane. “She was competing against herself. It’s her attitude. Attitude is the most important thing. She had to spend one hour doing rehab every day. And that didn’t include weight lifting, yoga and other things she was required to do. She should feel good about herself.”
“In our sport, we have to learn how to compete against ourselves,” said MacFarlane. “That’s what I say to them every day. And that’s what Sydney did. She wasn’t worried, she just went out there and ran. That’s what I tell our runners all the time.”
Success continued on the men’s side, where 10 records, some personal and some program, were set. However, two freshmen, Elias Kott and Logan Caruso, headlined the list.
Kott set a new program record in the 800 meter race with a time of 2:00:24, shattering Ryan Chimiel’s time of 2:01:85 from last year.
Kott also set a personal record in the 1500 meter race with a time 4:25:31.
Kott said one of his goals at the beginning of the season was to do exactly what he did on Saturday in the 800 meter race.
“That was one of my goals at the beginning of the season,” said Kott. “I really wanted to finish under two minutes, but coming so close to that makes me that much more excited for next year.”
“Next year, I don’t only want to break two minutes, but I want to be around 1:50,” he said.
Kott, who has set a number of records this season, said that it has been a thrilling freshman year, filled with great moments. Kott said he improved week-by-week.
“It’s been pretty neat,” said Kott. “I improved every week. In past seasons, I would usually plateau. But just seeing myself constantly improve every week helped me mentally and added extra motivation to get better every day.”
As the team transitions from track to cross country over the summer, MacFarlane said he is encouraged about the strong, young core he has. As a group, MacFarlane said this year’s freshman class was one of the best the program has had.
“Our freshman group is really good,” said MacFarlane. “They’re seeing their hard work come to fruition. They came in and they wanted to improve themselves. We felt this year’s group was good, but next year, I think we can be even better.”
By Mike Hogan, Sports Editor
hoganm17@bonaventure.edu
