Boston College track and field has been on a generational run. But somehow, nobody knows about it.
On a campus with a fan culture dominated by revenue sports like football, basketball, and hockey, it’s unsurprising that track and field has been excluded from the hype.
I can understand the criticisms from the perspective of someone who might not be as involved in the sport as I am as a member of the team. On a national level, track and field just doesn’t pack the cultural punch of mainstream sports. It still faces common objections that it’s “boring,” “hard to follow,” and “if I wanted to watch people run in circles, I’d just go sit by the Res for an hour.”
I consider these misconceptions a tragedy—for both the team whose hard work deserves your attention and the schoolwide community that misses out on appreciating one of the most electrifying and thrilling sports BC has to offer. Why not share that superfan love we’re so well known for with a team that’s going through the greatest program growth in its history?
The story begins with head coach Pete Watson, who is no stranger to building championship-level teams—he helped coach Texas to both the 2022 Indoor and Outdoor national championships, with a second-place finish at the former a year before coming to BC. For him, BC’s power lies in its capacity for growth.
“I think people should pay attention to the potential,” he explained to me. “I came here from winning programs for the potential of this program and the greatness of this school. I want to win. And now we’re actually recruiting athletes that have won at every level they’ve competed at. So it’s only getting better.”
“People don’t realize that some of the best athletes on this campus are on our team,” he said. “This isn’t a program that is content with being average. We’re trying to open the eyes of our fans and our administrators to that.”
He has certainly actualized his goals for greatness since his arrival to the program in August 2022. In the span of one year, the BC women’s cross country team went from placing 16th at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships to placing second and automatically qualifying for the 2023 NCAA National Cross Country Championship.
If that doesn’t capture your attention, that same year BC produced two medalists at the Pan American Games and the first runner in BC history broke four minutes in the mile. If that’s still not enough, last year alone, the team broke an astonishing 26 school records across the indoor and outdoor seasons and sent two members to compete at the U.S. Olympic Trials, one of whom is now a professional runner for Team New Balance Boston.
If you’re a student at BC, there has never been a better time to give your attention to this team and sport. Boston, a running city in its own right, is home to legendary track and field facilities with close ties to our track and field program. The TRACK at New Balance is a state-of-the-art facility designed to be the fastest in the world.
It’s brought in Olympic champions, world record holders, and the best athletes alive, all eager to compete in the major international competitions held there. It also just so happens to be the Eagles’ home track. Our team hosted the 2023 ACC and NCAA Indoor Championships and annually hosts the Eagle Elite Invitational, which attracts some of the highest-ranking collegiate track and field competition in the country.
Since 409 NCAA athletes competed in track and field at this past summer Olympics, if you want a good shot at seeing the next members of the Olympic team, this meet is the perfect opportunity to do so. Brought to you by BC.
Another legendary track in Boston is the Boston University Track, known as one of the fastest tracks in the nation. It draws crowds of eager fans and attracts some of the finest collegiate and professional talent around. The result is one of the most exhilarating environments in all of college sports.
“That facility, the energy there is unbelievable,” remarked Owen Pett, a junior mid-distance runner on the team. “It’s so loud. Every time somebody breaks four minutes, the crowd goes absolutely nuts. And it happens almost every weekend, which is unbelievable.”
It’s the track on which Steven Jackson broke four minutes for the first time in school history at the 2023 John Thomas Terrier Classic with a thrilling and gutsy kick to win from behind. Watching a meet here should be on your bucket list—it really is that exciting, all the time.
That race encapsulates what makes track and field such a captivating, thrilling sport, especially in the college realm. The competition in NCAA track and field is scrappier, with more heart and glory on the line than even in the professional realm.
These races are daring, desperate, and dramatic. You get the chance to watch student-athletes your own age give a race everything that they have in the one shot that they are given. The sport itself is an incredible showcase of the athletic capabilities of the human body. The magnitude of these accomplishments is highlighted in the simplicity of the demands of the sport: How fast can we run? How high can we jump? How far can we throw?
Yes, winning meets is incredibly important. But at the end of the day, the sport seeks to find the limits of human physical and mental ability. And then, it seeks to break through them. It comes the closest to answering those questions that humans have asked themselves forever. How much can you give until you have nothing left? Where do our limits lie? How far can the human body, mind, and soul go?
Track and field is bigger than a sport. There is nothing else like it. Now, it’s time to watch BC track and field as it comes face to face with its limits—and shatters them.
