With the start of the season just around the corner, winter Track and Field athletes prepared for what they hoped would be yet another successful season, aided by the winning leadership culture of the track program. Their hopeful journey to success was scheduled to start on Dec. 15, with the first meet, the Lid Lifter Invitational, being held at Drew University.

“We lost a ton of varsity scorers to graduation and filling their spots this season is going to be tough,” said head coach Luke Suttile, citing Frank Zarro (’22), among others. “The senior group from last year covered all the events, so building a relatively young team to be able to effectively cover all those events is going to be our basic goal.”

Depite this, Suttile noted that he felt optimistic that this year’s team could step up to cover the loss of last year’s seniors, as would the strong winter track and field program and team culture that remained intact.

“Tradition and past success help keep our program strong from year to year,” Suttile said, noting that a hallmark of the successful program and culture was encouraging athletes to step up to take leadership. “I rely a lot on the seniors and captains each season to help cultivate the younger athletes to buy into our goals and learn what it takes to meet the expectations I and the other coaches put on them.”

“I’m most excited to take lead of a great group of guys who I’ve run with for the past years, said senior star Dan Pinyan, who looked forward to leading the runners this season. “I’m excited to continue the greatness of the program and hopefully win some more championships.”

“Although track can be seen as an individual sport, it is very much a team sport,” said speedy senior runner Sebastian Denizard. “Seeing everyone working hard and pushing each other whether it be at practice or a meet is what I miss most,” said Denizard of the long break between the fall and winter track seasons. “I miss the bond we had as a team.”