Indoor track and field make a comeback at Norwich

By William Knox
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

After three years in mothballs, the Norwich University Track and Field Team will be competing in meets again this year.

The team's reemergence is largely due to the efforts of sophomore Dana Dexter, 19, a criminal justice major from Wolburn, Mass., who ran in several track meets last year for Norwich as an independent despite his efforts to get others to form a team with him.

"There were other people interested last year, but by the time I got things organized, I barely had enough time to get myself into the meets," Dexter said. "I was missing deadlines. By the time I got myself organized, it was too late to get other people going. By the time they would have also gotten into shape to compete, it would have been too late."

This year, Dexter had an easier time bringing a team together.

"A lot of people have been interested, so it was a lot easier to get organized. All I had to do was put up signs and people showed up to the meetings," Dexter said.

According to Dexter, the team's head coach will be Chris Walczak, who successfully coached the cross-country team this past season.

Dexter said that Walczak will focus on the coaching of the running events while he, Dexter, will call upon his years of experience in track and field to coach the field events.

The team will need funds to operate and, according to Dexter, the funds aren't coming from the school.

"Money is coming from our pockets. We are a club sport, so we don't get the varsity-sanctioned support. We have to fundraise," Dexter said. "We don't know what the uniforms will be, yet. We're going to see what we can do for those. Transportation we have to provide for ourselves."

Despite this and other roadblocks, Dexter is still optimistic. "I told the people who are getting involved, it's going to be a lot of work and a lot of frustration, but it will be worth it in the end if we can get this going."

So far, Dexter has the names of over 30 people who have said they are interested in joining the team, and he encourages others to contact him.

He said that interested students should call him at 485-0354 or slip a note under his door in Alumni Hall, room 318.

One of those who has expressed interest is senior physics major Victor Belanger, 22, a native of West Windsor, NJ.

Belanger, who was a member of the old team his freshman year, said "the problem with the old track team was that no one was really motivated to be there.

"The other killer was that we practiced for two or three months and only had one good meet. It was fun, but not worth the time and effort," Belanger said.

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