Setting a record is something most athletes strive to do. They are a testament to the work they put into their craft and represent the lasting mark an athlete leaves on their sport.
But breaking the same record twice? That is far less common.
Unless you are freshman runner Ryan Trocolar, who broke Marist’s 400-meter dash record two times this season.
Trocolar’s success on the track dates back to his time at Pequannock Township High School in Pompton Plains, N.J. He was a multi-sport athlete back then, playing soccer as well. Trocolar was solid on the pitch, even making the NJAC Second Team all-conference, but really stood out on the track.
He is a two-time member of the All Morris County team and a three-time 400-meter sectional champion. Trocolar also finished on the NJAC First-Team All-Conference during his sophomore, junior, and senior years, was the Group I 400-meter state champion of New Jersey, and broke various personal and school records throughout his high school career.
Despite all this success, going from high school to the next level proved difficult.
“I came from a smaller school, so our program wasn’t as good,” said Trocolar. “So that adjustment was a bit difficult, but I got used to it.”
He seems to have gotten used to it quickly.
Trocolar placed third in the 500-meter dash with a time of 1:05.23 in early January. The event marked just the second of his collegiate career, displaying how quickly he managed to adapt to the next level of competition. He followed that performance with a 49.06-second 400-meter run, a new Marist record.
Then came the indoor MAAC Championships, where Trocolar managed to break the 400-meter dash record a second time by running a 48.66-second time, good enough to place first in the highly contested event that had three Marist runners in the top six.
“It was kind of crazy the first time I broke it, and then the second time I was in complete shock because I didn’t even think that I was capable of running that fast,” Trocolar said. “So, when I saw my time, I was just in shock.”
On top of his individual record-breaking heroics, Trocolar was also part of the 4×400 squad that placed second and set a school record time of 3:17.09. Their second-place finish marked the best Marist had ever placed in the event.
In the end, Trocolar earned MAAC Rookie of the Meet for the Indoor Championships, and Marist placed fifth in the tournament, their best finish since the meet expanded to more than five teams in 2014.
Alisha Samuel, an assistant coach for Marist’s men’s and women’s track and field teams, believes Trocolar’s personality and drive to succeed have pushed him to have the successful freshman season that he has.
“Ryan is intrinsically motivated, so he’s somebody that is not going to show it on the outside,” Samuel said. “He has another level to him, a different drive, I guess, and he doesn’t like to lose.”
Samuel is a former track athlete herself. During her time at Northwest Missouri State, she accumulated several impressive accolades, including twice being named an All-American for the 60-meter dash. She has coaching experience at many different schools prior to her time at Marist, including at Oberlin College, William Jewell College and more.
Success seems to follow her at every stop; at Oberlin, her squad won the indoor and outdoor titles in the same year for the first time in their history. Now in Poughkeepsie, the Red Foxes had some of their best success in the MAAC Indoor Championships as soon as they arrived.
As a former athlete herself, Samuel realizes the physical toll these athletes’ bodies face. She is always in tune with her athletes in an effort not to overwork them, and the first step in doing that is to build trust in the athlete.
“I talk to my athletes a lot in the beginning, telling them how I coach and what kind of person I am,” she said. “It’s getting them to buy into the program I’m creating for them. When they go to that first competition and they start seeing those times drop, then I can really push a bit harder because now there is trust and they bought into the program.”
With Trocolar on the track and Samuel aiding from the sidelines, the track and field squad has the opportunity for even further growth going forward. This year’s freshman class has been impressive, breaking multiple records and setting new highs for the Red Foxes. Despite all that Trocolar has accomplished in his first year, he believes he can do even more.
“I definitely want to break the record in the 400 [meter], in the 4×4, and I want to get into the 47’s,” he said.
Now in the latter half of the season, Trocolar and the Red Foxes await the MAAC Outdoor Championships in May. Trocolar will look to cap his freshman season with more of the same success he has provided all season.
Edited by Max Rosen and Ben Leeds
Graphic by Quinn DiFiore
Photo from Marist Athletics
For more coverage of Marist athletics, follow @cfmarist on Instagram, X, TikTok, and Bluesky. Sign up to receive daily alerts here.