After an optimistic start to the winter season, the boys Indoor Track and Field team has only been improving its times at subsequent meets.

The team has already experienced two runners achieving personal bests at the Ocean Breeze Freedom Games, held on Staten Island on Jan. 7: Preston Gumann ran a 4:36 mile and Austin Zhu long jumped 20 feet and 8 inches.

A few weeks earlier, Kennan Byers placed first in the boys 1000m run with a time of 2:51 at the Tony Passarelli Invitational, held at Drew University in Madison on Dec. 20.

Prior to that, the boys first winter meet was a promising kick off to the season, with the Wayne Gardiner Holiday Relays, held at Drew University on Saturday, Dec. 17. It was the athletes’ first chance to step up and prove themselves, and they did not disappoint. The boys shuttle hurdle team finished in second place with a time of 34.5 seconds. The boys 4×200 team also finished in second place with a time of 1:40.10.

“I was pleasantly surprised with the performance from the first meet of the season,” head coach Luke Suttile said. “We started very well against the rest of the county.”

The first meet required runners to step up in a variety of ways, including senior captain Dan Pinyan participating in shot put, which he had not done since the eighth grade. “It was fun doing something again that I have not spent a lot of time with, and it’s always great knowing that you can help the team score more points,” said Pinyan, who added that he was eager to help his team win in any way he could.

At that meet, Coach Suttile noted that while the team exceeded expectations in some areas, improvements would be needed in other areas going forward.

For example, senior Austin Zhu exceeded expectations by setting a personal best with a high jump of 5 feet 6 inches. “It felt pretty good to set a personal best,” Zhu said, “I can’t get too excited because I want to get better as the season progresses.”

“We need to keep working,” Suttile said. “The team is starting to figure things out. We’re starting to figure out our best runners in each event. We just need to keep working practice and keep improving.”

Pinyan said that the Dec. 17 meet “was a good start and a nice checkpoint to set the bar at, but based on this team and how we practice, the bar will be raised throughout the season.”

The boys team hopes to continue stregthening its record at its next meet of the season, which is scheduled for this Friday, Jan. 13, at the Armory in New York City.