After the men’s track team finished first in the Empire 8 and fourth in the state, the Bombers were primed for a top performance March 6 and 7 at the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships in Medford, Mass. But the Blue and Gold fell short of their expectations, finishing 38th out of 50 teams.

The sprinters, junior Jon Lin and sophomores Max Orenstein and Jeff Wetmore, started off slow in the two-day meet at Tufts University running in the 55-meter preliminary and finishing 24th, 16th and 23rd respectively. Though all three sprinters suffered career-worst outings and would have liked to go to the finals, Wetmore said none of them were concerned that their performance in the preliminary would carry over into the later relays.

“We treated each event individually and didn’t let it get to us too much,” he said.

The relays gave the South Hill squad an opportunity to show its depth, a factor that set it apart from its opposition. The Bombers’ 800-meter relay team showed their mix of young talent and veteran experience. Lin, Orenstein, Wetmore and freshman Doug Koury ran the race, earning all-ECAC honors.

Senior captain Chris Covino said the camaraderie between Orenstein and Wetmore was essential to the success of the relay.

“The two of them work great together on [the] team, and that propelled us to our sixth-place finish,” he said.

Orenstein, on the other hand, was not satisfied with the team’s performance.

“We probably could have finished second or third, but we had a few messed-up handoffs,” he said.

Another valuable asset to the South Hill squad was senior captain Tim Shea and sophomore Anthony Veroline competing as part of the distance medley relay team that finished 13th.

Orenstein said Shea and Veroline accomplished their feat through hard work. Shea came back from training in Los Angeles in order to compete, while Veroline had gone to Alaska and hiked a mountain with rocks in his backpack during the offseason as a training exercise.

Injuries suffered in the New York State Collegiate Track Conference Championships on Feb. 27 and 28 took their toll on the Bombers on the second day of the ECAC Championships, as they fell 11 spots from 27th place at the end of Friday to an overall finish of 38th. Wetmore and Lin were battling hamstring injuries while Orenstein was suffering from a bad back.

“A lot of us had to go to many physical therapy sessions throughout the week just to be able to compete,” Orenstein said. “We couldn’t train all week.”

Junior sprinter Joel Trager, who earned all-ECAC honors in the 500-meter run, said the team peaked at the state championships the previous weekend and some fatigue may have set in.

“Even though some teams hit their stride around that time in the indoor season, we did really well the week before at states,” he said. “Since a lot of us were running a lot more than we were used to, the magnitude of all the races pushed some of us over the edge, and we started to have hamstring problems.”

Trager said the injuries were not a psychological factor in the meet because the other teams were also feeling fatigued toward the end of a long indoor season. The Bombers just had to come together as a team and support each other in order to succeed.

Covino said though the athletes did not meet some expectations in their final meet of the indoor season, they will use it as motivation.  

“We underperformed a little, and we’ll prepare even harder for the outdoor season,” he said.