University of Massachusets Athletics

Men's 2000 Track & Field Outlook : Continuing the tradition of excellence.



 

Jan. 1, 2000

Excellence is hard to come by, but even harder to maintain. The men?s track & field team has established itself as one of the top teams in the region and head coach Ken O?Brien has high hopes for this year?s squad. The men have placed fifth or better in each indoor and outdoor New England Track & Field Championships over the past three years. Last season, the team won the New England Outdoor Championships and was the runner-up at the indoor event. ?We?ve reached a level of success that is extremely hard to maintain, but now our guys expect to perform at that level,? said O?Brien. This season?s UMass men?s track and field team will feature a balanced attack of performers in every event. ?We?ve lost some real top performers off of last year?s team, but we?re much deeper at every event this year,? said O?Brien. ?We lost our number one athlete in eleven different events, but we have some newcomers that can step in and contribute in a big way and help us have another successful season.?

Sprints and Hurdles This year?s group of sprinters will have to fill the void left by the graduation of Tom Toye and Neil Concepcion. Toye and Concepcion combined hold shares of four school records in the sprinting and relay events. The keys to replacing Toye and Concepcion will be sophomore Adrian Zullo and junior Marc Sylvander. Zullo set the school record in the 100 meters last season in 10.43 seconds while placing seventh at the Junior National Championships in Denton, Texas. A standout wide receiver on the Minuteman football team, Zullo won the national high school championship in the 100 meters in 1998. Sylvander placed second in the 400 last season at the New England Outdoor Championships. Sylvander ranks among the top five all-time fastest UMass performers in both the indoor and outdoor 400 meters. Also expected to contribute are junior Hugh Reid and sophomore Mike Howell. Reid will specialize in the 400 and 200 meters, hoping to improve on his ninth place Atlantic 10 outdoor finish in the 400. Howell will concentrate on the 400 meters. He was a member of last year?s record setting 4x400 relay team that won the New England Championships and also put up outstanding times at the Atlantic 10 Outdoor Championships and the Penn Relays. Junior Mike Harris and senior Pat Beith will provide depth behind Zullo in the short sprints. Harris was hampered by injuries for much of his sophomore campaign. However during the final month of the spring season, Harris exploded on to the scene with impressive performances at the Penn Relays, and the Atlantic 10 and New England Championships. Beith ranked third on the depth chart for both the 55 and 200 meter dash during the indoor season last year. In the hurdles, senior Ben Baraldi is returning in the spring for his final season as the top returning performer. UMass? second fastest 55 and 110 meter hurdler of all-time, Baraldi is a two-time New England Indoor Champion in the 55 meter hurdles. He followed up the winter season with a strong outdoor season, finishing second at the New England Championships and fourth at the Atlantic 10 Championships in the 110 meter hurdles. Sophomore Alex Maravel-Piccolo had a great freshman campaign last season, placing fourth in the 400 meter hurdles at the outdoor Atlantic 10 Championships and qualifying for the New England Championships as the team?s second fastest 400 meter hurdler. Senior Vinnie Pullia and sophomore Ryan McNally have both been Atlantic 10 Conference finalists in the high hurdles. Freshman Ryan Hood has scoring potential in both the high and intermediate hurdles, and will add some very capable depth to an already talented corps of hurdlers.

Mid Distance and Distance A solid group of runners return from last season?s successful distance squad, led by junior Brendan Sullivan. Sullivan was the runner-up in the 5,000 meters at the Atlantic 10 Indoor Championships last season and placed fifth in the same event at the New England Indoor Championships. He is also the defending Atlantic 10 outdoor champion in the 3,000 meter steeplechase and also placed second in the 5,000 meters at the Atlantic 10 Outdoor Championships. Senior Kevin Somers returns as one of the Minutemen?s top long distance runners. Somers placed seventh in the 3,000 meters last season at the Atlantic 10 Indoor Championships and placed eighth in the 5,000 meters at the New England Indoor Championships. Somers followed up his strong indoor season with an equally impressive outdoor season, placing fifth in the 10,000 meters at the New England Outdoor Championships. Seniors Matt Ely and Sean Murphy provide experience and versatility in the middle distances. Both were among UMass? top indoor runners in the 800 and 1,000 meters, and both placed in the 1,500 meters at the Atlantic 10 Championships last season. They are joined in the distance corps by a talented group of sophomores led by Kevin Curtin. Curtin provides the team with a ton of versatility having run in six different events last season ranging from the 1,000 meters to the steeplechase. He will look to improve upon a third place showing in the 3,000 meters at last season?s Atlantic 10 Indoor Championships. Ryan Corbett, Colin Baughman, Salvatore Nastasi and Thomas Stuart will provide the backbone for the team?s deepest event group.

Jumps The Minutemen have to face the challenge of replacing five of last season?s top jumping performers in Andre Roach, Ryan Fortune, Albie Vasquez, Wes Shaw and Eugene LaFlamme. The squad does however return a talented group of sophomores who made an instant impact last season along with some very promising newcomers. Sophomore Paul Berberian returns as the number one man in the triple jump. Berberian was second on the team last year to New England Champion Andre Roach, finishing seventh at the Atlantic 10 Indoor Championships. Berberian was also one of UMass? top performers in the long jump and the high jump in last year?s indoor season. Sophomore Alex Maravel-Piccolo and junior Dave Greco are the team?s rop returners in the long jump. Maravel-Piccolo placed sixth last season at both the spring Atlantic 10 Championships and the New England Championships. Greco placed in the top ten at both the Indoor and Outdoor Atlantic 10 Championships last year. A very talented group of freshman will be asked to step up and score some major points this year. Ken Scheider and Ben Vik will make an immediate impact in the pole vault. Dan Clason-Hook, Reggie Oden and Tiengo West will also fill the void left by Roach and LaFlamme in the triple jump. The biggest question will be in the high jump. However, newcomers Stephan Russ and Ken Dabkowski both have the potential to score at the championship meet level once they gain experience. Throws The throwing squad is led by UMass? first-ever track & field All-American, senior javelin thrower Vic Morency. Morency became the school?s first All-American last season, placing eighth at the NCAA Track & Field Championships in Boise, Idaho. Morency, the school record holder in the javelin is the two-time defending champion in the prestigious Penn Relays. He is also the squad?s top discus thrower, having won the event at the Atlantic 10, New England and the IC4A Championships last season. Morency is just four inches short of the school record in the discus event, is third on the all-time list in the weight throw and was the team?s top performer in the shot put during the indoor season. Juniors Jesse Austin and Chad Schwarz will join Morency throwing the javelin. Austin qualified for both the New England and IC4A Championships with a third place finish at the Atlantic 10 Championships, and is third on the all-time UMass javelin performers list. Schwarz finished fourth at the Atlantic 10 Championships last season, also qualifying for the New England and IC4A Championships. Sophomores Steve Anderson and Jeff Tully will be looked upon to replace B.J. Cardoza, who graduated as the hammer throw record holder and ranked second on the all-time weight throw list. Anderson placed fifth in the hammer throw at the Atlantic 10 Championships last season with a career-best throw of 147? 4?. Anderson is also an outstanding discus thrower and posseses championship meet scoring potential in that event as well. Tully was a New England Qualifier in the discus, but will be counted on to also contribute in the hammer and shot put.