FITCHBURG – The Fitchburg State University men’s indoor track and field team hasn’t had all of the necessary depth in the past few seasons to make a run at the conference championship. But this year is different.
The Falcons have all of their bases covered, and despite being a little on the young side, that depth should bode well come championship time. Fitchburg State starts its season on Saturday at the Emmanuel Invitational at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.
Fitchburg State finished fourth last year in the MASCAC conference championship meet and the team feels it has a good chance of climbing up the rankings this year.
“We’ll be a much-improved team,” Fitchburg State University head coach Jim Jellison said. “I don’t know how the MASCAC’s will go, but we’ll be in the thick of it, and give people a battle, and see how it goes from there.
Fitchburg State added 30 recruits to its roster, some with cross country experience from the fall, but the composition of its 45-man roster is mostly on the younger side. The team size is expecting to grow after the semester change in January, to over 50.
“We only have one or two seniors,” Jellison said. “The rest are juniors and freshmen, mostly. We have a really good group of kids. We’ll be competitive everywhere we go, and it’s a learning experience, where kids get better every year by working on the process. The kids are working at it, and getting better every day.”
Although the Falcons are a little on the young side, the talent is there but more importantly the depth is in place. Fitchburg State had some vacancies in certain events the last couple of years, but this year it boasts multiple athletes in every single event, with at least three per event.
“This year we have depth in every event,” Jellison said. “We have a lot of kids that do a bunch of different events, and there’s depth in every event, and people in everything. There should be no empty events for us at the conference championship like there has been for a couple of years now.”
The Falcons are expecting a lot of athletes to qualify for the Division III New England’s, some to advance to All New England, and even a select couple might make it to National’s.
Junior Christian McWhinnie-Armstead made it to the National Championship for the outdoor season last spring, in the high jump, and is looking to make a return trip this winter. His personal best last spring was an impressive 6 feet 8.5 inches.
Jellison mentioned the unknown of what other athletes are doing around the country, but the goal is to get McWhinnie-Armstead back to National’s and give All-American a second attempt. The junior jumper just missed National’s for indoors last year, before making it for outdoors, and outdoors is typically more difficult to make since there are more teams.
“It was McWhinnie-Armstead’s first time at National’s so he was pretty nervous, but he did a good job,” Jellison said. “He didn’t make All-American, but they only take the top 20 in the country so that is still a very impressive accomplishment.”
Eric Shimiyimana already triple jumped 45 feet, and could be a threat for National’s in the jumps. Six-foot-seven freshman Alexander Loyd jumped over 46 feet in high school, so depending on his development he could contend as well.
Freshman Adam Digman is a multi-event threat, along with classmate Benjamin Sacramone. Senior Zachary Buckland made New England Division III in the decathlon during outdoors, and will join his two freshman teammates in the heptathlon. Digman and Sacramone are also strong in the hurdles adding depth in that event.
Joseph Asare is a freshman thrower of note, after competing on the Falcon football team this fall. Beau Bernadeau is a freshman who is a legitimate threat to throw 50 feet in the shot put, and the two should be stellar in the weight throw.
Ayer Shirley alum Trevor Fields transferred in from the UMass Lowell, and should make an immediate impact in the 800-meter run. Nicholas Sachetta is another 800 runner who went under two minutes in the past, and Joshua Atemkeng is another threat.
The distance crew should be strong and could be expected to lead the way early with veterans Jacob Movsessian, Timothy Sheehy, and Joe Weston, along with freshmen Samuel Flint and Cameron Davis (Gardner High alum).
Nate Felix and Chris Morales will make up the 400 crew. The short sprints will be a battle among captain Asante Monteiro and Miguel Perez.
Cody Soderlund returns in the pole vault, and will receive a push from Buckland, Digman and Sacramone.
