BROCKTON, Mass. ---- Entering its third year of the program, head coach Matt Jordan and the Massasoit track & field teams are ready to compete in the upcoming 2016 season. The opening meet for the Warriors is the BSU Bears Invitational hosted by Bridgewater State on Saturday.
The expansion of the track program has been impressive, more than tripling the roster size from the inaugural season in 2014 to the present 2016 roster.
"I was excited and surprised at the turnout in preseason," second year head coach Matt Jordan said. "I think we garnered a lot of attention after some very successful runs last season and our showing at Nationals. We had two guys go on from last year in Alex (MacMillan at UMass Dartmouth) and Rokas (Piragis at UMass Boston) and put up great times at their new schools so that has also helped spread the word about track here at Massasoit."
Jordan's roster consists of 19 student-athletes on the men's side and three student-athletes on the women's side. The most exciting part for Jordan is that the team is very diverse in its events.
"What is nice is that we are not going to be known as a team of just sprinters. We have individuals competing in a variety of events and multiple events," Jordan said. "There are not too many events that we will not have a Massasoit student-athlete in, which is really exciting to always have something going on."
The Warriors have six meets slated for the 2016 schedule, concluding with NJCAA Nationals hosted at Westfield State on May 7-8. Jordan is just ready to get the season going and has high expectations for the 2016 version of the Warriors track program.
"It's a team of really special kids and preseason has gone extremely well. We've been practicing since the beginning of February and we've had some really good team bonding so far. The kids are really fired up. The hardest month has been March, because it seems like it is taking forever to get to the first meet," Jordan said.
In addition to the 19 new student-athletes in 2016, Jordan welcomed assistant coach Adam Blanchette to join his ever growing program.
"It's going to be a lot to watch with all these athletes competing in so many different events. Luckily we've brought on Adam (Blanchette) as an assistant coach. He is one of the original pioneers of the program, competed in for two years, and he's been great with the team and knows the direction I want to take the program and the importance of getting everyone on the same page," Jordan said.