COLCHESTER, Vt. - Saint Michael's College President
Richard Plumb, Ph.D., announced the addition of varsity men's and women's outdoor track programs on Thursday, effective for the 2025-26 school year. The move brings the number of varsity sport offerings at the College to 23, marking the first time new programs have been added since women's ice hockey began play for the 2000-01 school year.
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"There is a tremendous amount of excitement around the addition of men's and women's track at Saint Michael's College," said Director of Athletics
Matt Akins. "It offers a robust offering of opportunities for new student-athletes that expands upon our dynamic cross country program. Track is one of the most popular high school sports, which will enhance our Athletic Department's ability to engage new students in our mission of providing high-quality, broad-based athletic experiences."
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Saint Michael's becomes the 10th member of the 11-school Northeast-10 Conference to offer track, with the league providing championship opportunities in the sport since 2002. The immediate entry into the NE10 track sphere will allow Purple Knights to compete for additional NCAA Championship berths and in-season and postseason awards, both athletic and academic. Saint Michael's will utilize local high school and college tracks for indoor and outdoor training.
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Based on 2023-24 rosters, track & field programs at NE10 institutions average squad sizes of 76 men and women, with nearly 44 hailing from the men's teams and 32 from the women. The College aims to increase its roster sizes in the coming years to mirror many of its league counterparts while also enhancing the athletic experience of existing and future student-athletes with additional competitive and training opportunities throughout the school year.
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The new outdoor track teams will be led by successful veteran mentor
Molly Peters, who is amid her 19th year as a head coach at the College. She has guided women's cross country throughout her tenure, enters her 13th season as Nordic skiing head coach, and is in her fourth year with men's cross country. The 2022 Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA) Nordic Skiing Coach of the Year has recruited and developed student-athletes who have appeared at four NCAA Championships. Her charges own eight all-region and 17 all-conference accolades.
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"It's really a dream come true to add a track program at Saint Michael's College," said Peters. "Adding this program will be a game changer for recruiting, as most runners want to compete in cross country in the fall and track in the spring. We really couldn't ask for a better time for this to happen." The new track program follows decades of intermittent club track teams that date back to the 1970s, soon after cross country was added as a sport at the College.
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Since arriving in 2006, Peters has raised the profile of all three programs. While still a part-time head coach, she sent the College's first runner -
Chloe Boutelle '15 - to an NCAA Championship in 2013 before the entire women's cross country team qualified the following year. Now a full-time head coach, Peters sent runner
Tess Drury '27 and skier
Henrik Wist '27 to NCAA Championships during the 2023-24 school year. In all, her women's cross country teams have garnered four top-three finishes at the NE10 Championship and a pair of top-four showings at the NCAA East Regional Championship, and both the men and women were regionally ranked for much of the 2023 season.
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Peters also carries a wealth of track coaching experience. In four years as an assistant coach at NCAA Division III power Middlebury College, she helped Panthers earn 24 All-America honors and three New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) individual titles. She was also an assistant coach for five years at nearby Burlington High School. During her undergraduate years at Middlebury, Peters qualified for the NCAA Championship in cross country, Nordic skiing and outdoor track, landing All-America honors in the latter two.