After struggling to bounce back from an almost perfect 2016 season, the boys’ track team has continued to persevere and use their young talent to their advantage.

After graduating many talented runners, senior captains Everett Pirtle and Erik Coupe had little hope for the team and were skeptical of the results they would get. However, as the season progressed, the two have been surprised by the performances of the underclassmen.

“Before the season started we did not have very high hopes for the team and the program’s future,” Pirtle said. “However the underclassmen this year have been a very big surprise.”

Coupe agrees that the underclassmen have been showing great progress over the course of the season.

“The seasoned athletes knew that this season wouldn’t be as successful as the last,” Coupe said. “But the team is really progressing at an individual level and the younger kids are making names for themselves.”

Although the team has yet to win a meet, Coupe stated that many individuals are putting up decent scores against some strong opponents which was reflected at the team’s past league meet in Shrewsbury.

“Out of the whole team, nearly everybody had a personal best in one, if not all of their events,” Coupe said. “I think that shows the promise the team has for the next few years with the current freshman and sophomore classes.”

Sophomore and top-runner Matthew Madamba continues to put forth effort and holds the top performance for the 200M dash, with a time of 22.9 seconds at Tuesday’s meet against Leominster.

“I try my hardest every day and every race is a chance for me to try to get another personal record,” Madamba said.

Like his senior captains, Madamba believes that the years to come will be filled with progress.

“This is a rebuilding year for the team,” Madamba said. “We have a lot of young guys that have great potential in the years ahead, and I see us having a very strong team with the potential to win the district meet.”

With high hopes, the team looks to continue to put up competing scores at their next meet against Wachusett on Tuesday, May 9.