GUILDERLAND — The Guilderland boys’ track-and-field team is off to a good start and looking to get better.

The Dutchmen have a 5-1 record so far this season and have done well at a couple of invitational meets this season.

“It’s a good start to the season,” said coach Dave Kosier. “Our only loss was to Colonie and they are a powerhouse. They are pretty tough. But a third of our team was not back from vacation the day before for practice, so we did not run everybody and we had to move some people. Not that we would have beaten them, but it would have been closer.”

Guilderland did win the Ballston Spa invitational earlier this spring and competed well at the Anthony Luciano Invitational in Hudson Falls this past Saturday.

The Dutch finished second at the meet with 64 points. Burnt Hills won the event with 75 points.

“Nice speed”

Guilderland is led this spring by senior Roland Graves. Graves won the 3,200-meter race in Hudson Falls on Saturday and is one of the top runners in the section in that event. He also competes in the 1,600.

“He had a nice time for early in the season,” Kosier said. “He ran a 4:21 flat at Ballston Spa in the 1,600. That’s a nice time. There were some good runners in that race.”

Graves is also moving up the charts in the 1,600-meter run.

“He’s broken his own personal record,” Kosier said. “He’s fourth all-time in Guilderland history. It’s early. He put down a pretty impressive time for early in the season.”

Senior Yifan Chen is a jack-of-all-trades for the Dutchmen. His specialty is the jumping events and has a 42 foot, 9 inch leap in the triple jump this spring.

“He is about ninth in school history,” Kosier said.

Chen also runs the 400- and 200-meter sprints.

Senior Ethan Doak is out for track for the first time.

“He was on the cross-country team,” Kosier said. “He is able to do a couple of different things. Track is a nice sport for him.”

Doak can run the 100 and 200 and also competes on the 4x400-meter relay.

Junior Mike Heiserman is a veteran on the team and is making some big contributions this spring.

“He’s been on the team the past couple of years,” Kosier said. “This year he is stepping up. He’s popping some nice times in the 200.”

The Dutchmen have a lot of good sprinters this spring.

“We have nice speed,” Kosier said. “We have been blessed with distance runners for a number of years, and we still are. We are complementing them with good sprinters. There is no hesitation with who we put in the 100, 200, and 400 as well as the relays.”

Vaulters and jumpers

The Dutchmen also have some solid field performers as well.

Senior Billy Reed competes in the pole vault.

“He’s been vaulting well,” Kosier said. “He’s been at 12 feet all year long. It’s another technique thing. And to do it well this early without a lot of opportunities, 12 feet is good. We’ll work from there. It’s a nice starting spot. We’ll get good things from Billy Reed this year.”

Reed can also compete in the 200-meter race, the 4x100-meter relay, and the triple jump.

“He’s got some wheels on him, too,” Kosier said. “You need that for the pole vault. You need to attack the pit and get into the air. He’s a nice little weapon for us.”

Junior Andrew Oteng-Baah, a transfer from Canada, was hurt in the first meet of the year and is working his way back.

“We are looking for big things from him in the jumping events,” Kosier said. “He’s a good long jumper and a strong triple jumper.”

Oteng-Baah is part of the depth the Dutchmen have in the jumping events.

“We have 20 guys over 40 feet,” Kosier said. “And we have a bunch that are at 38 and 39. Andrew is off the basketball team. He is doing nice jumping. And he is doing a nice job off the injuries.”

“Distance guys look promising”

Senior Kevin Sheehan is running in the distance races and contributing well.

“The distance guys look promising,” Kosier said. “We have a good core of distance guys. That comes from the success of Brian Rhodes-Devey and other guys,” he said of a nationally ranked runner now at the University of Texas. “These guys have been overshadowed, but Roland has stepped it up already as has Kevin Sheehan. He’s ran a 4:39 in the mile and a sub 10 [minutes] in the two mile.”

“Young guys coming up”

Kosier also has a talented group of younger runners who make the future of the program good.

The freshman 4x100 relay team broke the freshman record at Guilderland.

“It’s nice for them to knock off a team that had Nelson English and others on it,” Kosier said. “The record was 48.1 and in their first invitational they run a 47.5.”

DaShawn Gates, Sam Segal, eighth-grader Malcolm Nelson, and Shawn Playford make up the 4x100 team.

Gates is especially promising.

“He’s stood out,” Kosier said. “We’ve tried to be patient with him, but we’ve seen him enough times to move him up to the varsity level.”

Playford also competes in the high jump and is an alternate on the varsity 4x100 relay team.

“We have a nice group of young kids,” Kosier said. “We look at the seniors and what they are doing and we’ll be disappointed when they leave, because they have done a lot for the program. But we know we have young guys coming up behind them.”

“Balanced team”

Two of those upperclassmen are junior Gianni Vassate and senior Jake King.

Vassate won the 800-meter run at Ballston Spa and King was a close third.

“He was right behind him but ended up in third,” Kosier said. “It was nice to get a 1-3 in an invitational situation.”

Senior Captain Dave Slingerland is a key member of the team. He competes as a sprinter and in the 110-meter high hurdles.

“He’s one of those guys that fills many spots and you have to cross his name off in events because you can only do four,” Kosier said.

Ian Tapler, a junior, competes in the hurdles and set a personal record time of 15.6 seconds in the 110 hurdles.

“It is another technique thing and that’s a good time for so early in the season,” Kosier said. “The school record is 14.6. That’s pretty quick but he has two years to do it. We’ll keep that carrot dangling in front of him. He’ll keep working at it.”

Senior Mike Edmonds has been a solid competitor in many events.

“He did indoor for us and he’s a nice guy to have around,” Kosier said. “We can put him in a lot of sprints. He is one of the better high jumpers.”

The goal for the Dutch is to improve in the Suburban Council and to get a better spot at the sectional meet, which Guilderland will host again this year.

Last year, the Dutch finished fourth at the sectional meet, but did win the Gold Division of the Suburban Council with an 8-3 record.

“We’re a pretty balanced team,” Kosier said. “Especially if we get everybody healthy and on track on the same day. With a big group like this, I’d say we have 83 or 84 kids, it’s hard to keep everybody healthy at the same time.

“We still have a couple of big challenges ahead of us. Shenendehowa is always tough and Shaker will be tough. We’re hoping to win our division again in the Suburban Council.”