Men’s indoor track

The men’s indoor track team finished the season placing fifth in the championship held at the PG Center located in Prince George’s County on Jan. 29. According to head coach Robert Torres, this was one of the better teams JC has had for indoor track.

Varsity pole vault captain junior Steven Kutcher, who won bronze last year, placed first in the pole vault event at the championship and won gold in the MIAA league. “I just like that I can contribute to my team,” Kutcher said. He also broke the pole vault record and is one of the best pole vaulters in the state, according to Torres.

With the numerous snow days, practice was limited for the team. According to Torres, they didn’t have any practice for eight or nine days before the championship due to the blizzard. However, Kutcher believes that this did not hinder the progression of the team, and they were still able to improve their skills.

“We don’t have some of the numbers that some of the other teams like Mount St. Joe’s or Gillman gets, so we try to have success in any individual event we can and have improvement throughout,” Torres said.

The team’s main goal was to put the best team out there that they could and to improve no matter what. “We tried our best and put forth our best effort,” varsity long distance runner senior Matt Becker said.

According to Kutcher, there was a lot of team chemistry and everyone motivated each other during the races, especially the captains, who always offered to help their teammates. “We supported each other emotionally through difficult times,” Becker said.

“[Captain of distance senior] Rob Flynn [was a major component] because he was very enthusiastic about it. He was always cheering you on, whether you were a freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior,” Kutcher said.

According to Torres, out of the top ten scoring athletes, eight are seniors. “It’s going to be rough [next year], [but] we’ll see what happens. We have a lot of young guys, and we’ll see if they can develop,” Torres said.

Caroline Cooney is an In-Focus Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.