Eastern Nazarene College’s (ENC) track and field team is heading towards its first meet on Saturday at Bridgewater State and is continuing to shape up for the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) championships at the end of April.

The track and field team of ENC is going to compete in its third season since the debut of the program in 2017. For head coach Scott Polsgrove, who also serves as the men’s basketball coach, and graduate assistant Nicolaus Phynn, it is going to be their first season training the team. Newcomer Phynn is a former long jumper and triple jumper from the University of Texas. Polsgrove states that the graduate assistant is doing an “outstanding job.”

Due to Polsgrove’s other responsibilities, Phynn organizes most of the practices. Since February 1, the team practices daily from Monday to Friday at Faxon Field near Quincy High School to get ready for competition. Since the outdoor practice is weather dependent in New England, the coaches also utilize the weight room and Lahue gymnasium for workouts.

For Polsgrove, the preseason “… is going well. We are a small team, but we’re really hoping to build on that.”

All meets and practices serve as preparation for the most important event of the year – the NECC championships on April 28.

“How well you do, whether you win or lose, doesn’t really matter because the conference meet is the one where you are competing for a conference championship,” the head coach explains.

Since the program is still very young, the goal of the coaches is to train their athletes and help them become the best version of themselves. Furthermore, it has to be considered that the team currently consists of only 19 athletes, which gives the program opportunities to grow.

“Our real goal is to try to make our program more robust and have more students involved,” Polsgrove reveals and adds that he is aiming to “… do a great job with our athletes right now, give them a great experience, train them as well as we can, and then, hopefully, we grow the program for the next year.”

If you want to see the Lions in action, head over to Bridgewater State on Saturday to watch them make their season debut at the Bridgewater State Invitational.