On a very windy Saturday in New London, Conn., Wesleyan track and field made a significant stride toward achieving their lofty goals for this season. Coming off an indoor season which included outstanding individual success, the excitement for outdoors is palpable across the squad.

“We have the best energy as a team that I’ve experienced in my four years,” said Skyler Cummins ’13.

This positivity was certainly evident at the Coast Guard Invitational, as the men finished a solid sixth out of the 11 competing squads while the women came in second, only six points behind winners WPI. Outstanding performances for the men came from first-place finishers Paulie Lowther ’13 in the 200m and Cummins in the 1500m.

Lowther finished with a time of 22.502, 0.007 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher in a field of 55 entries. Cummins was also very impressive on the day as he won with a time of 3:59.54, edging out teammate and two-time All-American Bryan Marsh ’13 by 3.8 seconds.

“Bryan and I went into the race with a plan of trading leads and trying to run around 3:55-3:57,” Cummins said. “We fell a bit short of that, but it still was a positive day overall.”

Other strong performances by the men came from Agbon Edomwonyi ’16, second in the shot-put; Will Sawyer ’16, second in the pole vault; Alex Rowland ’16, third in the long jump; and Austin Cotant ’13, fourth in the 800m. Placing well this early in the season is a great sign for the men, especially considering that some athletes have yet to race their favored events, while others are thinking of branching out.

“I hope to have good performances in the hammer throw and the discus toss since they are two competitions I’ve had rather limited experience in,” Edomwonyi said. “It would bode well for upcoming years.”

As for the women, it is difficult to know where to start. The team racked up 102 points, placing five runners in the 1500m alone. Leading this event was Julia Mark ’13, who dominated the field, nearly breaking the team record and finishing 18 seconds ahead of the second place finisher from Roger Williams University.

“It is always strange to run a solo race,” said Mark, “but I had mentally prepared myself for that possibility—as well as the windy conditions—and so I knew what to do once the gun went off.”

Other noteworthy performances came from Sierra Livious ’14, who won the shot-put, while Idara Foster ’15, Lia Monti ’13, and Geneva Jonathan ’15 each came in second in the 100m, 200m, and 400m, respectively. These three athletes didn’t stop there though, as Monti took third in the 100m, Jonathan snagged fourth in the 100m hurdles, and Foster finished seventh in the 200m.

Next up for the team is the visit to AIC Saturday, April 6 for the Yellow Jacket Invitational. For both the men and the women, the future certainly looks bright, with lofty NESCAC aspirations certainly on the minds of many.