ORONO, Maine — Despite several inches of snow still covering the outdoor track at the University of Maine, the women’s team has found alternative ways to train in preparation for the upcoming track season.
After a spring season where the Black Bears finished eighth out of nine teams at the America East Conference Championships, UMaine is optimistic about the upcoming season. Fourteen freshmen have joined the team, and with most of their top scorers returning, including junior pole vaulter Jaclyn Masters, the women are hoping to improve.
“We’ve had to train inside because of the snow obviously,” said Jaclyn Masters. “We were supposed to have our first meet this weekend, but it got canceled because of the snow.”
Masters, a 2012 graduate of Edward Little High School, recently set the school record in the pole vault, clearing 12 feet, 7.57 inches on March 7 at the Eastern College Athletic Conference indoor championships at Boston University.
“It was so surreal because I hadn’t achieved a personal record since freshmen year.” she said.
Masters comes into the season with high hopes. Last spring, she finished second in the pole vault at the America East Conference Championships. She also competes in the 100- and 200-meter dashes. However, because of her recent success in the pole vault, she will primarily focus on that event and hopes to compete far into the postseason.
“I had a week off in between the seasons and that was plenty of rest,” she said. “I keep training for sprinting because it really helps my mechanics with pole vaulting.”
Her versatility makes Masters one of the top athletes in the America East Conference, and her performance this spring will likely correlate to the team’s success later in the postseason.
“I’d really like to get 13 feet,” she said. “I think that’s a reasonable goal for me right now as far as where my training is.”
While Masters and the other field event athletes have been able to consistently train inside, the distance runners have been forced to either train outside when weather conditions allowed it or inside for the past few months. However, that inconsistency hasn’t bothered standout Annabelle Wilson.
“It has certainly been a different transition from indoor to the outdoor season this year with the amount of snow we’ve had,” Wilson said. “We are still training on the indoor track, and it seems like it could be quite some time before we are training on the outdoor track again.”
Wilson comes into her junior season as a one of the top distance runners in the program. After a season of cross-country where she placed 31st at the America East Conference Championships in Orono, Wilson ran a personal best in the 3,000-meter run this winter, 10 minutes, 19.08 seconds in January at the Boston Collegiate Indoor Games. She believes her performance in the winter, as well as her current fitness, will propel her to a successful outdoor season and hopes to be competitive at the conference meet, which is set for May 2, in Albany, New York.
“I want to run a personal record in the 5K at America East,” she said. “Running sub-18 minutes would be great.”
Wilson has focused primarily on the distance events since she came to Maine from Newtown, Australia, and she has now become a leader to what has become a very young distance team. The distance team features seven freshmen and will look to Wilson as the season moves along.
“I think the younger freshmen have done really well at adapting to the team,” Wilson said.
She believes that most distance runners have a unique disadvantage compared to the other track athletes once spring arrives because most of the runners have been training since last August in preparation for the cross-country season.
“Outdoor season can be difficult for distance athletes that have already run two seasons prior. It can be a really long year of competition if you push yourself too hard too early,” she said.
With new faces turning out for the team, Wilson is excited for the future and hopes her leadership will continue even after she graduates next spring.
“It will be nice to have them next year to act as positive role models for younger team members,” she said.
The team heads to the University of New Hampshire on April 4 to compete against the Wildcats and Holy Cross in a three-team meet. The women’s schedule can be found at goblackbears.com.