Men's Track & Field: A Look Ahead

The Eph Track & Field squad will have a new look this year, and it starts with a new head coach. Coach Fletcher Brooks helms this year's team, and is returning to Williams after serving as the head coach of women’s cross country and track & field at MIT for three seasons. During his previous tenure at Williams, which ran from 1998-2005, Brooks was a strength and conditioning coach for the college, assistant coach, and then associate head coach of the men’s and women’s track & field programs.

During his time at Williams, Brooks coached 46 All-Americans and four NCAA champions and was instrumental in implementing effective strength and conditioning programs for the Williams varsity teams. "Williams track & field, including both our returning athletes and assistant coaches, is excited to welcome back Fletcher, this time as head coach," noted long time Eph head coach Peter Farwell, who will coach distance athletes this season. "Fletcher was a tremendous assistant coach at Williams for seven years in the throws, jumps, and strength-conditioning areas. Since then he has gained great experience heading up MIT's women's track & field team, and he will bring to Williams administrative expertise, top-notch event coaching, and a strong personal ability to guide and motivate our coaching staff and team. We are all looking forward to the 2008-09 year, and many more." For this and more information on Coach Brooks, click here.

In addition, this year's team features a different set of athletes, as seniors from last year’s squad have graduated and new freshmen have entered the program. It will definitely be difficult to pick up the slack left by the graduation of top athletes from last year's team; All-Americans from last season Andrew Arons (sprints), Chris Beeler (sprints and middle distance), and Mack Brickley (sprints and middle distance) were all lost to graduation. The team is fortunate, however, to return five All-Americans from last year's team: Macklin Chaffee '09 (Chagrin Falls, OH), Alex Hoerman '09 (Rochester, NY), Taylor Fitzgerald '11 (Dedham, MA), Edgar Kosgey ’10 (Eldoret Rift Valley, Kenya) and Deividas Seferis '09 (Klaipeda, Lithuania). It goes without saying that these five men will be athletes to watch for in the upcoming season. Watch especially for Chaffee, a middle-distance runner, who was named the 2008 Division III New England outdoor track and field athlete by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCA).
Joining Seferis, Hoerman, and Fitzgerald in the sprint distances is incoming freshman Viktor Nagy (Debrecen, Hungary), who is already being touted as a very capable 400m runner, and a number more exciting newcomers looking to make their mark.

Along with Chaffee and Kosgey, Brian Cole '11 (St. Helena, CA) should be frequent scorers in middle distance events. All three are coming off tremendous cross-country seasons, with Kosgey finishing 10th in the nation at the NCAA Division III Cross-Country Championships. Several more look to fill in the gaps by making breakthroughs or returning to health.

The distance team will also be headed by a number of cross-country runners as Jeff Perlis '10 (All-American XC)(Bethesda, MD), Anthony Raduazo '12 (Bolton, MA), Corey Watts '10 (Madison, WI), and Ryan Ford '09 (Middlefield, CT) all hope to translate great cross-country seasons to success on the track.

Top hurdlers for this year's team include short-barrier specialist Matt Sullivan ’11 (North Andover, MA) and long-hurdler Stew Buck '09 (Amherst, MA).

The Ephs also have a number of strong athletes in the field events. Top jumping prospects include John Dingee ’10 (Bronxville, NY), returning to campus this winter after studying abroad, and newcomer Tomas Kearney ’12 (Foxboro, MA). In pole-vaulting, the Ephs look to sophomore Nick Lee '11 (Piedmont, CA), who tied for 7th in last years NESCAC Championships. Finally, the team expects big things from throwers Matt Farley '11 (Oyster Bay, NY) and Nate Newburg '09 (Dover, MA).

The Ephs definitely have all the necessary ingredients for team success: skillful coaching, top-tier talent, incredible tradition, and an excess of enthusiasm. Last year’s team lost to rival Tufts at the indoor regional championships but went on to claim victories over their counterparts at the NESCAC Championships and regional championships outdoors. This year's team figures to face an equally stiff challenge from at least Tufts and MIT. The team also has its sights on making what has been their annual splash against Division I competition, this year in meets at Syracuse, Northeastern, and at the All New England Championships in preparation for the Division III NCAA Championships at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana, March 13th-14th.

Surely the results will come with time and effort, but if one thing has defined the team so far this year, it has been the passion and teamwork present at early season practices. "Every day this group has brought out a positive energy and has worked hard. I'm excited to see how the season turns out," remarked Coach Brooks, adding, "We've been doing team conditioning drills under the lights on Lamb Field and I can tell you that I like the energy and enthusiasm I've seen from the team. They're working hard, working as a team and pushing each other."