Track and Field Places Highly at NESCAC Championship

The Middlebury men’s and women’s track and field teams competed on Saturday, April 27 in the NESCAC Championship at Tufts University.  The hosts were victorious on both sides, but the Panther teams had strong finishes.  The women finished second while the men placed third.

The men won a total of four events on the day.  Jack Davies ’13 continued his impressive season by claiming first place in the 3,000-meter steeplechase en route to setting a new NESCAC record at 8:58.01. The steeplechase secured a four-year sweep of that event for Davies. Bryan Holtzman ’14 led all competitors in the preliminaries of the 100-meter dash, then improved his time and won the final in a blazing 10.92 seconds.  Kevin Chu ’14 also entered the finals of his event as the favorite and came out on top in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.71 seconds, good for eighth in the nation.

Finally, the men’s 4x100-meter relay team comprised of Chu, Holtzman, Fritz Parker ’15 and anchored by Will Bain ’15 bested the field with a time of 42.31.

On the women’s side, Juliet Ryan-Davis ’13 and Addie Tousley ’13 added to their long list of victories by claiming individual NESCAC championships.  Ryan-Davis won the 800-meter run by nearly three seconds with a time of 2:13.73.  Tousley was also a victor by three seconds in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 16:59.91.  Her performance currently ranks sixth nationally.

Additionally, the 4x800-meter relay team of Sara Guth ’15, Alison Maxwell ’15, captain Sarah O’Brien ’13 and Nicole Schachman ’16 finished first with a time of 9:26.19.

Other members of the men’s team had successful days.  Holtzman added to his 100-meter championship by placing second in the 200-meter dash.

“The toughest part about running multiple meets is taking each one event at a time,” said Holtzman.  “I had to maintain focus on the first race before thinking about the next one. My strategy doesn’t change if I’m running one event or four. I owe my success to Coach Beatty.  We came up with a plan to keep me well-rested in the week. This allowed me to perform for the entire day.”

Wilder Schaaf ’15 was a close second in the 1,500-meter run.  Jason McCallum ’14 was another near-victor for the Panthers with a pole vault of 14’ 1.25”.  Deklan Robinson ’16 and Taylor Shortsleeve ’15 tied for second in the high jump, each clearing 6’ 2”.

The men’s distance medley relay team of Patrick Hebble ’13, Sam Craft ’14, Cooper Kersey ’14 and Schaaf also placed second with a time of 10:10.63, just three tenths of a second behind the winning team from Bowdoin.  The 4x400-meter team of Parker, Lou Cornacchione ’13, Patrick Rooney ’13 and Peter Hetzler ’14 finished third behind Tufts and Williams.  Rooney also placed third in the triple jump and Davies added to his steeplechase victory by taking fourth in the 5,000-meter run in 14:41.69.

Emily Dodge ’13 posted a long jump of 18’ .25” – good for third in the competition and a new Middlebury school record – and also finished second in the triple jump with a leap of 36’ 7.5”.  Grace Doering ’13 placed second in the high jump at 5’3”.

Ryan-Davis didn’t stop with the 800, but also ran the 400 meters and finished second.  Additionally, the women’s 4x400- meter relay of Ryan-Davis, Alex Morris ’16, Jackie Kearney ’16 and Olivia Artaiz ’16 placed third in the meet.  Maxwell and Kate Leib ’16 placed 3-4 in the women’s 1,500-meter run and Carly Andersen ’16 was fourth in the javelin throw to round out scoring for the women.

The women earned second-place by finishing with 117.5 points, behind only host Tufts.

The men’s 140 points, put them in third with a new Middlebury record for the NESCAC meet. The men trailed Tufts and Bates in the finals standings.

The next meet for both teams will be this coming weekend, May 3 and 4, at the Division III New England Championships, hosted by Colby College.