The Salisbury boys track and field team entered Tuesday’s regular season finale with three wins in Colonial League competition. It’s been a long time since the Falcons finished the regular season with that many victories. The last time a boys team won at least three meets was in 2014.

Results from that tri-meet against Northwestern and Southern Lehigh were not available at time of press. But for a team that is low on numbers once again, which has been even more magnified because of the COVID-19 pandemic, head coach Victor DeOliveira is pleased with how the team performed this season.

“We haven’t had three boys wins in quite awhile,” DeOliveira said. “I was really pleased and happy for them that they were able to accomplish that. On the girls side, we pretty much knew we wouldn’t be able to compete just from a numbers standpoint. However, on that side I am pleased because from the first meet to the sixth meet, their numbers have increased every time.”

The girls’ team entered the finale with a 0-9 record, but continued to progress and improve on times and distances throughout each meet. There were only 16 girls on the roster.

To go along with some team success this spring, many individuals have also been impressive. And with the Colonial League Track and Field Championships set for next Tuesday at Bangor Memorial Park, a number of Falcons have a chance to earn a medal.

On the boys’ side, junior Tyson Utesch seems to have the best chance at ending up on the medal stand. He holds the top spot, along with Northwestern’s Rhys George, in the pole vault event. He jumped a mark of 12 feet back on March 30 at Palmerton.

“I know he’s been practicing out of school with the pole vault, but he was jumping a little over 9 feet two years ago and now he’s at 12 feet,” DeOliveira said. “He’s been doing really good. That’s a pretty big jump. Normally it becomes a game of inches after that. To go up two-and-a-half feet, that’s pretty big.”

Kyle Artis also has a legitimate chance in the triple jump, especially since he just started participating in the event a few weeks ago. He’s already ranked in the top 10 of the Colonial League seed list with a mark of 39 feet, 7 inches, and he won each of the last two regular season meets in the event.

“He just started doing the triple jump about three weeks ago, and he’s been doing very well,” DeOliveira said. “He’s now won the last two meets I believe. He kind of came out of nowhere. I know he dabbled at pole vault for awhile, and he ran the 400 at the beginning of the year and was doing pretty well with that. But he decided to do the jumping thing, and that’s worked out pretty well for him.”

Gio Hines is an explosive runner in the sprint events, particularly in the 100-meter dash where he’s ranked seventh in the league with a season-best time of 11.20 seconds. His biggest challenge, however, is a foursome of Wilson sprinters and two Southern Lehigh runners that are ahead of him. They will all move up to Class 3A competition at districts while Hines will compete in Class 2A where some strong competition from the Schuylkill League will enter into the mix.

DeOliveira believes Hines has a solid chance to make it to states, along with a few other Falcons.

Quintin Stephens has a solid chance to pick up some hardware as well at both leagues and districts. His season-best mark of 40 feet, 1 1/4 inches in the triple jump ranks him fourth in the Colonial League. He’s sitting at sixth in the long jump with a mark of 19 feet, 9 inches, which he set on April 8.

Hunter Bleam’s best chance at medaling at leagues seems to be in the high jump where he sits third on the Colonial League’s performance list with a mark of 6 feet, 3 inches. He’s also in the top 10 of the shot put (fourth) and discus (10th) events.

DeOliveira expects around four athletes to qualify for leagues from the girls’ side, while 12-15 boys have the opportunity to compete next week.

Leading the way for the girls is Melena Koutch, who was injured two years ago and missed last season due to the pandemic. She’s tied for fifth in the Colonial League performance list in the high jump with a mark of 4 feet, 11 inches.

Brooke Bleam, a freshman, has the chance to surprise some people as well. She’s among the top eight competitors in both the triple jump (31 feet, 2 inches) and long jump (15 feet, 1 1/2 inches).

“We have a very small squad this year,” DeOliveira said. “It’s actually about 30 percent smaller than usual, but that seems to be the case everywhere.

“I guess between Covid and the hybrid school model. I’m happy with our performance though. I guess this is more of a quality over quantity type of thing.”