By VICTORIA ADDISON
Executive Editor
With the first meet of the season slated for Friday, Jan. 16, members of the track and field team at the College of Saint Rose have been hard at work for the past three months preparing for competition.
They can be found scattered on the lawn of a neighboring high school once the sun has fallen; some stretch while others run laps on the track nearby. These athletes, college students, are use to practicing in an environment that lacks their own emblem. But, while the colors that surround the track and field they practice on may not be the same as those on their jerseys, the Golden Knights still finds ways to adapt.
It may not seem ideal to some athletes, but utilizing the facilities of other schools to practice is not uncommon for Saint Rose. Why? The College lacks a track of its own.
“I am so proud of them because here are student athletes who, despite not being able to just walk out the back door and practice, are so committed to their sport,” said Cathy Haker, the director of athletics and recreation at Saint Rose. “They really should be applauded for that. It shows a high level of commitment.”
Upon the program’s revival in 2005, track and field was not the only sport that lacked a facility on campus. Prior to the construction of the Events and Athletics Center in 2004 and the Christian Plumeri Sports Complex in 2010, Saint Rose did not have any athletic facilities to call their own.
“We didn’t have soccer fields, we didn’t have a softball field, we didn’t have a baseball field; we didn’t have a gym when I started here,” said Haker, who has been with the athletics program since the fall of 1976.
Despite the gymnasium and weight room that can now be found inside the Events and Athletics Center, and the many fields at Plumeri, indoor and outdoor tracks are still absent at Saint Rose. The addition of an outdoor track was considered when Plumeri was in the planning stages, but the blue print showed minimal room for extra components.
As a result, the athletics department continues to find ways to improvise so members of the program can practice and compete.
“I was not too surprised that Saint Rose did not have their own facilities for the track and field team. It requires a lot of space to have an indoor track facility and the location of the school makes that difficult,” said former student athlete Bridget Buckley. A member of the graduating class of 2014, Buckley competed on the team for the entirety of her collegiate career.
An alternative to on campus facilities, partnerships with SUNY Albany and Albany High School have allowed the track and field team to practice daily. About a 10 minute walk from campus, Albany High permits Saint Rose to practice on their outdoor track when their teams are finished. Once it becomes too cold to practice outside, the College rents out SUNY Albany’s SEFCU Arena and the Bubble, which are both indoor facilities.
While Albany High might be a short walk away, SUNY Albany is not. Instead, students have to find their own means of transportation to make it to practice. For those students that do not have a car to drive the three-mile distance, other options are available.
“It was not until my senior year that the team started driving the school vans to practice. Before that year it was up to the teammates to drive themselves, carpool or take the city bus,” said Buckley. “The issue came when the snow hit.”
For students at the College of Saint Rose, the effects of the winter weather that northern New York is notorious for are all too familiar. Unfortunately for the track and field team, driving to practice can be dangerous when the streets are blanketed with snow and ice. Also due to the harsh winters, the team finds themselves practicing more at SUNY than Albany High over the course of the season.
“If there were facilities on campus then those several nights we were unable to drive to UAlbany would’ve been prevented by having practice inside on campus,” Buckley said.
Although Saint Rose has substitutes in place to make up for their lack of on campus facilities, Buckley believes that the dynamic takes a toll on recruiting.
“Several recruits do come from schools that have track facilities, so they may find it difficult to join a program that lacks them,” she said.
For current team member Mike Benson, a similar attitude is not apparent.
“I did know that they didn’t have [facilities] but it didn’t alter my decision because of the Albany High track being close by and also the UAlbany track being open for us,” he said. “I personally prefer UAlbany because it is a nice facility and also it is a big area.”
In the midst of his senior year at Saint Rose, Benson is looking forward to the start of competition in his final season with the track and field program. The team has been working on preseason conditioning since September, and their recently-hired head coach has been doing his best to ensure the team is ready to compete next month.
Tucked away from the daily commotion of the Events and Athletics Center, the equipment room can be found by the swimming pool, behind a set of double doors that block the harsh smell of chlorine and mutes the buzz of students as they meander through the hallways. Upon entrance, the eye falls upon a dated washer and dryer that sits in the center of the dorm-sized room. To the side, rows of jerseys span an entire wall, with a desk placed nearby.
Hiding between those rows of jerseys, dressed in black and gold from head to toe, coach Mike McCadney stood casually immersed in conversation with a student who hovered above the desk. After the student exited the room, the phone rang.
“Today’s a busy day,” McCadney said as he picked up the phone.
Entering his second season as the head coach for the men and women’s track and field programs at Saint Rose, McCadney has worked as the equipment room manager since this summer. Despite the extra responsibility of keeping jerseys, gear and supplies in check, he still finds the time to ensure his team is able to practice.
“I’m very creative,” he said with a grin.
Formerly an assistant coach at SUNY Albany, McCadney admits that transitioning to a campus that lacks their own facilities was a challenge, but he has made do.
“We will pretty much utilize the community. We will train at Lincoln Park, Washington Park, Bru field; I like to keep the athletes on softer surfaces prior to heading on the track to keep them healthy,” he said.
Apart from taking advantage of the many areas around the community available for practice, McCadney has instated another method to combat the lack of facilities on campus; a positive attitude.
“One thing about track and field is we train a lot with adaptation; different environments, different types of training whether it’s daily, weekly. So one of the things that I want them to understand is no we don’t have a facility, but that doesn’t mean we are not going to get quality training,” said McCadney. “When there’s a will, there’s a way.”
