Track Opens Season at Dartmouth

The Middlebury track teams opened their seasons on Sunday, Jan. 11 at the 46th running of the Dartmouth Relays. Despite its name, the Dartmouth Relays are not a relay-only meet, and the teams contested the normal compliment of events.

Due to the meet’s proximity to the recently completed cross country season, almost all of the Middlebury distance runners sat out the meet. For the sprinters and field event athletes, though, the meet served as a nice beginning to the season and a good test of current fitness against strong competition from all NCAA divisions.

Senior Taylor Shortsleeve ’15 highlighted the men’s team performances. Shortsleeve broke the school record by 1 centimeter in the high jump, soaring to a height of 1.94 meters (6 feet, 4 and ¼ inches), netting him a tie for sixth place.

Shortsleeve also produced the almost unheard of accomplishment of tying a previous personal best twice in one day. In the preliminary round of the 60 meters hurdles — his first attempt at the distance since 2012 — Shortsleeve ran 8.58 seconds, which equaled his personal record set in March of that year. Later, in the finals, he managed to run the same time, picking up another sixth-place finish.

Shortsleeve was not the only athlete to have a successful first meet. Will Bain ’15 lowered his personal best in the 60 meters to 7.15 seconds for a 14th-place finish and Alex Nichols ’17 finished sixth in the 400 meters, running 50.67 seconds.

“Sunday’s meet was a great opportunity for us to measure our fitness to start the season,” said captain Fritz Parker ’15. “Our training has been erratic because of the field house construction, but I was impressed with the team’s fitness nonetheless.”

On the women’s side, Hannah Blackburn ’17 stepped off the volleyball court and right back onto the track, continuing the success of her previous spring’s season without missing a beat. Blackburn made the finals in the 60-meter hurdles, finishing sixth with a time of 9.67 seconds. Her preliminary time of 9.57 seconds was only 0.02 seconds off her personal best. In the long jump, Blackburn leaped 5.27 meters (17 feet, 3 and ½ inches), an indoor personal best that netted her fourth place.

Paige Fernandez ’17 turned in her best 400-meter run, completing the distance in 61.67 seconds to finish 15th. Rookie Kate McCluskey ’18 was not far behind, running 61.99 seconds for 17th place.

The Panthers quickly return to action, traveling to the famed Armory track in Washington Heights, New York for the Gotham Cup on Friday, Jan. 16. Following the trip to New York is the most exciting day in recent history for the program with the inaugural meet in Virtue Field House on Friday, Jan. 23.