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Listen carefully and you just may hear them. They are the soft patter of feet behind you, while you saunter to your 8 a.m class with sandbags under your eyes. They are that last press release at the bottom of goblackbears.com. They are those people, crazy people, who run in T-shirts and shorts in the middle of February, when most students are catching up on some reading in a cozy dorm room. They are the University of Maine women’s track team.
While most of the campus is still wallowing in the hockey team’s gut-wrenching championship game defeat and the rest focus in on the baseball team’s upcoming streak of important conference duels, another spring team on campus quietly idles past the spotlight. Let’s be honest – rarely does any college track team in any college campus in the country garner the attention it deserves. It doesn’t matter if it’s a team the caliber of Stanford or a low-rent Division III squad. Track just doesn’t snatch the headlines. The story is no different in the friendly comforts of Orono, where our school squads seem to be swept aside like leftover snow in March. However, last Saturday, the women’s team continue the type of performances that any fan of athletics appreciates.
This past Saturday, the Black Bears split squads, sending teams to New Hampshire and the prestigious Penn Relays to compete. When they returned home, they brought with them some of the best performances of the year. Maine sent 22 athletes to compete at the Relays. The team began competition on Thursday afternoon at the Penn Relays, a nationally recognized track meet that attracts some of the world’s top athletes, with an explosion of fantastic displays. The meet, which is held at Franklin Field on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, opened with arguably Maine’s finest performance of the week. In the 4×400 meter relay, the team made up of Katie Souviney, Silvia Scaldaferri, Amanda Virgets and Hana Pelletier came across the finish line with a school record time of 3:53.02. The time smashed the previous university record for the relay, which was set in 1997. The Black Bears sparkling performance early on Thursday afternoon managed to foreshadow a plethora of breakout performances for the team. Maine followed with a standout mark in the 4×100 relay, with a time of 49.83. The dazzling time was good enough for the team of Souviney, Scaldaferri, Stephanie McCusker and Rachel McCaslin to win their section. The Black Bears also collected strong showings in the high jump and the shot put. Claire Poliquin cleared 1.67 meters in the high jump to finish fifth in the Eastern College division, while Katie Page merited a 14th place finish in the shot put.
“It’s just an awesome experience; it’s like a big carnival,” Kristen Vidlak said about the prestigious meet.
Vidlak also took the time to discuss the team’s performance at the relays. Although when looking back at the meet she believes there are several aspects the girls would change, but overall they are quite content with their performances.
“The top 15 performance in the country is nothing to be ashamed with,” Vidlak said.
Maine continued its success on and off the track on Friday when McCusker set an outdoor personal best of 38 feet, 1.25 inches for ninth place in the Eastern College Division. The Black Bears also garnered an impressive tally in the 4×200 relay, clocking in with a seventh-place finish. The relay team was composed of Souviney, Erin Hatch, Scaldaferri, and Virgets. The final day of the Penn Relays kept in the same tradition as the first two days, with another relay team putting on a fine display. The 4×800 relay team of Kristen, Virgets, Heather Jovanelli and Pelletier ran the second best time in school history of 9:01:88 to come across in 14th place in the “Championship of America” race.
As for the split squad that headed to New Hampshire, the performance of Katie Page highlighted the team’s appearance. Page finished first in the discus with a throw of 41.91 meters, while Laura Catterson finished fourth in the same event. Page also raked in a third-place slot in the shot put and fifth in the javelin to complete her commanding day.
The meets this past weekend highlighted a team that is gelling at just the right moment, an aspect that doesn’t go unnoticed by Vidlak.
“This year’s team is awesome, we are so together and we are all really focused,” Vidlak said. “It will be exciting to see what we can do at the conference meet.”
The sparkling performances this past week were foreshadowed by the Poliquin’s spectacular showing in the Mt. SAC relays in California, two weeks ago. In one of the most well-known meets in the country, Poliquin beat an overwhelming total of 40 girls to claim the second spot in the nation, jumping an astonishing 5 feet, 8 inches. Before the fantastic display, Poliquin had already qualified for the NCAA qualifier in Orlando, Fla, and is currently ranked as the top seed in the America East Conference.
Maine returns to action this weekend in the all-important America East Conference Championship, which serves as the first in a long line of crucial meets. After the team competes at the America East Championship at Northeastern, the following weekends will see the team travel to compete at the New England Championships, again at Northeastern, and then the ECAC Championships at Yale. The final leg of the season will conclude at the all-inclusive NCAA Qualifier in Orlando, Fla.
When asked about what she foresees and anticipates in the near future for the Black Bears, Vidlak didn’t hesitate in giving an answer.
“It’s going to be a busy couple of weeks,” Vidlak said. “Hopefully we can get a lot of New England qualifiers.”
