Season in Review: Men’s indoor track and field

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The Rowan men's indoor track and field team was both the NJAC and ECAC Champion during the 2015-16 season. -File photo

The men’s indoor track and field team closed up another successful season, one that started off strong and with big expectations from head coach Dustin Dimit.

There were no surprises among the team as the Profs had a record campaign, claiming their second straight New Jersey Athletic Conference Indoor Championship and conquered their first-ever Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship. Rowan also sent two athletes to the NCAA Division III Championships and had sophomore captain David Benjamin earn All-America honors.

“I am very happy with the results from this season,” said Dimit, named the New Jersey Athletic Conference Men’s Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season. “It’s exciting to see so much depth in every event.”

For the first time in Rowan history, placed in the top seven spots in every event but one at the ECAC Championship. That one event was the pole vault where the Profs suffered an injury earlier in the season.

Dimit is confident in his team’s ability to keep the winning tradition going.

“This was a really big breakthrough year because of the talent pool we have to choose from here at Rowan,” Dimit said. “Our recruiting has greatly improved and it’s showing. The most impressive thing to me is how successful we have been without an indoor facility to train in. We perform at a very high level, but many schools have that advantage over us.”

Year in, year out, the Profs, unlike other area programs, are without an indoor training facility; having a proper building for practices would likely lead to improved times, heights and distances.

“We would be sending more athletes to nationals every year if we had a facility like that,” Dimit said.

Rowan dominated in spite of this fact. Junior captain Justyce Pollitt, a member of the season-best 4×200 meter relay, was pleased with the team’s progress in the winter.

“Our performance has definitely increased in the past few years. [Assistant coach for jumps/sprints Norm] Tate had us training harder, faster and earlier on in the season,” said Pollitt, who competes in mixed events.

“[Dustin] Dimit has definitely done an awesome job recruiting and we also got lucky with a few recruits,” Pollitt said. “But honestly our sense of pride and family has been the factor that pushed us to the level we are at right now.”

Since Pollitt arrived on campus as a transfer from the University at Albany in the fall of 2014, the Profs have seen great success. A lot of that, the junior stressed, goes back to the team’s camaraderie.

“I love this team and it’s our dedication to each other that makes us great,” he said.

As back-to-back NJAC champions and ECAC champions, the Profs have established themselves as a force both in New Jersey and on the east coast. Rowan will benefit next season from losing only a few members of the 2015-16 team.

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