By Dan Canastra

With the full squad back in action, the Huskies tore up the track last weekend at the Solomon Husky Invitational in Dedham.

Freshman Aaron Hill cleared the bar higher than anyone else in the pole vault. Lloyd Collins, a senior, leap-frogged his way past the competition in winning the triple jump. Senior co-captain Vinny Tortorella grabbed second place in the hammer and javelin, while also finishing third in the shot put. Sophomore standout Derek Anderson beat up the competition finishing first in the discuss and second in the shot put. Senior Bryan McCants sprinted his way to a first place finish in the 400-meter hurdles. McCants also anchored the 4×100 relay to a first place finish.

Winning the discus “was alright; it is always good to win but I wasn’t really satisfied with how far I threw,” said Anderson. “I was hoping to build up my throwing distance from Brown [the previous meet]. But there are always bumps in the road that I have to get over.”

Coach Sherman Hart felt that the team did a solid job last weekend but the team needs to pick it up a notch come championship time.

“I thought we performed well, but I still think we have some ways to go before we get to the championship,” he said. “I wasn’t unhappy or displeased with their performance, I just feel we have a little ways to go to be ready for the championship.”

Tortorella also believes that the team has room for improvement.

“This week was OK,” he said. “As a team we didn’t get the best performances … but I think that was due to the week off last week at Brown.”

Hart feels that his team was one of the best that competed in the meet last weekend. However, Hart doesn’t worry about any team other than his own.

“At this point I’m really more concerned on how my team is performing,” he said. “I’m not going to worry about other teams, I’m going to worry about my own team and how we’re going to put one foot in front of the other correctly, that’s probably my biggest concern. Then everyone else can worry about us.”

This weekend the team will travel to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia for the Penn relays. The meet is the largest relay meet in the world, with over 10,000 athletes participating. The meet starts on Thursday and runs through the weekend. There is expected to be between 30,000 and 40,000 spectators on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday, if the weather holds, crowds are expected to reach 50,000. With the competition at the highest level, Hart feels that his team will be up to the challenge. Hart also added that the meet is a great event to get publicity for the team, especially if they find a great deal of success.

Anderson is optimistic heading into the meet.

“I feel I’ve seen a lot more positive attitudes around the team and I think everyone is doing their part to get better,” said Anderson.

Hart and his team aren’t doing anything out of the ordinary to prepare for this meet, they’re focusing on the America East Championship that is less than two weeks away. Hart said that the team is getting geared up for the championship and that they’re ready to regain their title.