Coming off its four-month indoor season, the men’s track and field team will begin the 2009 outdoor season seeking a state title, while individual athletes will have their eyes on spots in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships.

The team has a group of 11 seniors led by the versatile multi-event athlete senior Cory Petermann, who won the javelin event at last year’s New York State Collegiate Track Conference Championships and finished third in the decathlon.

“Cory is a great all-around athlete that helps us in a lot of events,” Head Coach Jim Nichols said. “He’s a great leader in the program as well.”

Because of his student-teaching schedule this spring, Petermann will only practice with the team on the weekends. Though Nichols said the team would be better overall with Petermann’s constant presence, he said the Blue and Gold will be as well-rounded as they have been in past years.

The Bombers’ strength will be their 4x 4-relay team, of which junior Joel Trager will be the only holdover from last season. Sophomores Max Orenstein and Jeff Wetmore will be new additions, as will freshman Doug Koury. Trager, who helped last year’s group of sprinters place fifth at the Tufts Invitational and 13th at the Armory Invitational, said he is excited to work with the new group of sprinters.

“All three of the new members have been running well, so I see us doing well,” he said.

Wetmore will be looking to improve on a stellar freshman season in which he was named the 2008 Empire 8 Track Rookie of the Year, earning all-state honors in two relay events, the 1,600-meter and the 400-meter; and two individual events, the 200-meter and 100-meter.

Orenstein was a seven-time all-state NYSCTC sprinter during his outdoor freshman season and a member of the 400-meter team that placed first at the Empire 8 Championships and fifth at the ECAC Championships.

Leading the Blue and Gold in jumping events, sophomore Kyle Devins won two Empire 8 titles in the long jump and triple jump and was a Division III All-American in his freshman season.

One added benefit of the outdoor season is training at Butterfield Stadium, which will give the team a more set routine than when it had to practice at Cornell University during the indoor season.

The Bombers begin their outdoor season when they host the Ithaca Invitational on March 28. Nichols said he hopes the team’s success will continue as it battles the outdoor elements.

“We use the indoor season to prepare for the outdoor season, and hopefully we can carry over our strengths from winning the indoor conference championships,” he said.

Senior sprinter Maurice Herring said the best way for the team to maintain its top performance is through its confidence.

“The minute you doubt yourself as an athlete, you will start to have problems in competition,” he said.