Kwaku Boah described it as the worst thing that could have happened. After a long indoor track season of training and improvement, Boah still fell short of his ultimate goal of qualifying for nationals in the weight throw.

It was a disappointing result that left one of Syracuse’s best athletes yearning for the outdoor season and a second chance.

‘That was ideally what I wanted out of indoor season, so it was a big disappointment,’ Boah said. ‘What’s in the past is in the past. I can’t stay focused on what happened then. I need to focus on the positives of outdoor.’

Now Boah and the rest of a talented crop of SU athletes are ready to look ahead. With the transition to the outdoor season, the Orange has a chance to put the disappointments of the winter behind. It presents another opportunity to reach goals unmet during the indoor months.

Boah’s disappointment, though, might have been worse than that of his teammates. Earlier this season, Boah broke the program record in the weight throw and took home first place at the Columbia Last Chance Meet on March 4 and 5, the meet that would ultimately be his last of the indoor season.

His mark of 19.93 meters was good enough for a Syracuse record, but it fell short of the 21.50 distance needed to qualify for the NCAAs.

‘Once you get close to being at nationals one time, you want to go back,’ Boah said.

Boah isn’t alone. Junior Ieva Staponkute finished just short of qualifying for nationals in the triple jump. She, too, is looking forward to having the chance for redemption and making up for missed opportunities, thanks to the indoor and outdoor seasons.

‘Since I felt really good, I thought I might do nationals and I was really close,’ Staponkute said. ‘It’s really sad, but I’m really looking forward to outdoors. I feel like there are more opportunities to get better.’

Though Boah does not prefer the outdoor season, most runners and other athletes do. Boah is excited about their chances at success. Outdoor track and field is a place where runners can thrive on a larger track. They welcome the chance to get outdoors with a shot to improve their personal best times.

After taking the winter season a bit lighter than usual, the distance runners are set to return to the high level SU head coach Chris Fox expects and has seen firsthand during cross country season.

He feels the cross country season and the outdoor season are the two times of the year runners should push hardest for results. The indoor season can be used as a recovery and practice period.

‘We didn’t try to qualify anyone for nationals,’ Fox said. ‘That wasn’t really our goal. I think we can only take two seasons seriously. We don’t think you can run three seasons at a high, high level the way we do cross country.’

SU will also benefit from an extremely talented group of runners returning to the team after redshirting the indoor season.

Senior Flings Owusu-Agyapong set a program record in the 60-meter dash last year before taking off the winter to rest and prepare for the spring. Her routine is indicative of how seriously Fox and the rest of his coaching staff are taking this spring season.

‘Our whole winter’s been geared toward this Stanford meet,’ Fox said of this weekend’s upcoming Stanford Invitational. ‘Outdoor track is a huge deal. We want to see how many kids we can get qualified for NCAA regionals.’

With that in mind, Fox’s expectation for 20 to 25 runners to qualify for NCAA regionals in May would be a record for a program that has been constantly improving since Fox’s arrival.

With the distance runners rested and other athletes looking to rebound from a season of disappointment, now is as good a time as any for Syracuse to make a push and exceed its all-time high No. 26 national ranking, which happened during the cross country season in 2007.

‘I leave it behind,’ Staponkute said of the disappointment of the indoor season. ‘It’s like a good practice, so outdoors is going to be better.’

dbwilson@syr.edu