Although the boys and girls track and field teams are not facing off directly against opponents, the team has had the opportunity to compete this season.

In addition to the upcoming contest on Saturday against Choate, both teams have competed against Loomis, Taft, and Westminster in four “virtual meets”. Each school runs a full slate of events on its own campus, and then times and scores are compared for each event.

“It’s nice to have everybody back in uniforms and running in a meet that was run like any other dual meet,” said head coach Nate Seidenberg. “The athletes were very excited.”

This year, the team has depth in both short-distance and longer-distance running events. Seidenberg cited Christa Prasertsintanah ’23 and Bodie Molnar ’21 in the 400m and Fati Salifu ’22, Ella Anthony ’21, Brandon Ciccarello ’22 and Anish Reed ’23 in the 100m as being especially strong.

In the field, Paige Dzenutis ’23 has already distinguished herself in high jump, and Caleb Eddy ’23 and Jonah Gilliam ’24 show promise as newcomers, said Seidenberg. Co-captain William Wildish ’21 has also enjoyed a successful season in javelin.

Seidenberg said that the team has tried to keep its routines as similar as possible to previous seasons, albeit with some minor modifications for COVID safety.

Because all students were away from campus last season, many of the athletes this season are competing on a track team for the first time, said Seidenberg. “There’s been a steep learning curve for many but they’ve adjusted well,” he said.