The outdoor track and field season opens up for the Rhode Island College men’s track team on Saturday, March 31 as they will participate in the Coast Guard Invitational. Last season, RIC finished off with a tie for 35th place (58 teams) at the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III Championships. They finished third out of six teams in the Little East Conference and look to build upon those finishes this season.
A majority of the roster is also on the indoor track and field team and both squads are coached by Kevin Jackson who is entering his 11th season as RIC’s head coach. His coaching staff is rounded out by assistants Timothy Rudd and Greg Ahnrud. Junior Conor McCloskey and sophomore Craig Amado are the captains for the indoor team and appear to also be the captains for the outdoor season.
Christopher DaLuz is the lone senior on the roster and his season bests last year were a time of 29.64 in the 200m and 14.46 in the 100m. He’ll look to improve on those on his final semester as an Anchorman.
McCloskey is coming off of a great 2011 season in which he earned a pair of N.E. Alliance honors after having season best times of 4:02.84 in the 1500m and 1:59.18 in the 800m.
Fellow junior Austin Pena was part of the 4x400m relay team last season which broke the program record with a time of 3:19.84. Pena also earned N.E. Alliance honors after placing first in the 4x400m relay event.
Junior Shawn Stadnick was also a part of the record-breaking 4x400m relay team and also earned All-New England and N.E. Alliance honors during last season.
Amado has high expectations this season after being named last year’s Little East Conference Rookie Field Athlete of the Year and earned two All-ECAC honors. He was also the Anchormen’s team MVP.
Sophomore Tom DeCristofaro enters this season looking to improve from his 20th place finish as a rookie in the 1500m event at the N.E. Alliance Championships and had a season-best time of 2:18.16 in the 800m.
Sophomore Blest Norris, is coming off of a season last year in which he earned All-American honors in the 100m and 200m events at the Community College of Rhode Island.
The team looks to put in a completive run at the alliance championships this season.
