Post Pioneer

Administrators have cited financial reasons for why the track team has folded, arguing it had been in peril for some time due to lack of money.

``Track has been underfunded and underscholarshiped for quite some time now,'' Athletics Director Bryan Collins said in the July 2 Newsday report by Steve Marcus. ``If you look at our track it is basically a bad looking driveway."

In the June 29 press release, Collins argued "the cost of maintaining a competitive track and field program has become prohibitive."

"There are few Division II schools in our area to compete against in track and field," he said. "Because of this, a large amount of financial resources were devoted to having our student-athletes travel to meets and compete against larger Division I programs."

The displaced track team, however, has said that Collins' figures don't add up - especially on the issue of transportation costs.

With bitter, seething sarcasm, Garrett Chapman, a first year business administration graduate student and Pioneer photographer, critiqued apart the reasoning behind the decision, especially Collins' assertion that the team cost too much money. "Of course Collins states that the cost of maintaining the program was becoming too much," Chapman said. "Oh yes - the department/school was dumping sooo [sic] much money into the program - just look how beautiful the track is, and my, what facilities they have put up for the team!" Chapman referenced the track on Hickox Field, which has been the subject of SGA scrutiny and plans for rehabilitation, and has been called "The Sand Pit" in recent years for its state of disrepair.

"Where did Post track go this season that was so expensive?" Champan wondered. "Was it the New York Armory, where 90 percent of the indoor meets are held, or was it Kings Point, Manhasset, NY where a good chunk of the outdoor meets were held?... I guess that could get costly, traveling all of 20 miles round trip. Well, there was the one meet where Post Track and Field had to travel to DeSales in Pennsylvania - a mere 2 hour trip for a conference meet. I guess that ran a tab up."

He then noted where other teams in Athletics traveled for meets, wondering how track could have placed a crimp on the budget. "If track is breaking the budget with its schedule, let's see where other teams went in 2006-2007: Men's Lacrosse - North Carolina, New Hampshire, Rhode Island; Women's Lacrosse - Florida, Western Pennsylvania, Virginia - I think you get the point," he argued.

Photography major Sarah Lefrancois agreed, and echoed Chapman's argument. "I was there on the team this year," she said. "I know we traveled to - let's see, we went to the NYC Armory for most of our Indoor meets- maybe one meet at Fordham, Most of Cross Country was spent at Van Cortlandt park- with the exception of two meets in Boston, and for Outdoor Track, a good majority of our time was spent at Kings Point USMMA complex - Oh, and don't let me forget DeSales University in PA. That must have been the bank breaker - the two-hour ride there - Looks like not too much traveling to me, in comparison to where I see other teams going: New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia."

"To say that Post was spending too much money to ship the team around is absurd," Chapman added.

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