Track Out-Paced by Division I Competition in Burlington Meet

The track team returned to action on Friday, Jan. 17 for their second meet of the season, hosted by the University of Vermont at the Gardner-Collins Indoor Track in Burlington. The competition consisted of two other Division I teams, the St. Peter’s Peacocks of New Jersey and nearby neighbors the UVM Catamounts, resulting in a smaller field than last week’s Dartmouth Relays. Once again a portion of the team, including a number of distance runners, did not compete as they continue a slower and more gradual start to the long season.

The Gardner-Collins track itself is undersized, meaning that it does not match the standard indoor lap distance of 200 meters, measuring 160 meters instead. As a result, it is more difficult for runners to post faster times, since they spend more time navigating the turns. Nonetheless, the Panthers put in a day of hard effort both on the track and in the field that will aid them as they work toward the peak of their season.

“For the runners, since it is an undersized track that would not yield our best times, we were less concerned with qualifying for championship meets and more concerned with making it a good work day while giving our athletes good meet experience,” head coach Martin Beatty said after the meet. “These were two Division 1 teams, which also gives us good experience going against talented individuals like [those] we’ll see in the championship meets.”

On the women’s side, the day brought a few particularly exciting performances, including from Alex Morris ’16, who won her first career 800 meter race in a time of 2:21.68, beating the field by three seconds.

“I had never run an 800 before in my track career so this was a completely new race for me,” Morris said. “While I was nervous, racing distances longer than I usually run can only help my endurance in my 400. I went into the race with no expectations and right from the gun I just decided to give it my all.”

Morris commented on her approach to the longer distance.

“I definitely felt very inexperienced running because it is so tactically different from the 400, but once I had opened a gap between me and the rest of the runners, my only goal was to keep smooth and steady to the finish line,” she said.

The women’s 4x400 team of Morris, Jackie Kearney ’16, Nikki Schachman ’16 and Paige Fernandez ’17, also crossed the line in first place, edging UVM by a little over a second on the anchor leg with a finishing time of 4:15.58.

Some other scoring performances for the Panthers included the distance medley relay team’s second place finish, Kearney’s  third place finish of 9.17 in the 55 meter hurdles, Lauren Henry’s ’16 second place finish of 7.57 in the 55 meter dash, and Hannah Blackburn’s ’17 second place finish of 34 feet 3.5 inches in the triple jump.

Overall, the Catamount women took home top honors with a total of 91 points. St. Peter’s finished in second with 45 points, while Middlebury took third with a total of 32.

On the men’s side, Daniel Plunkett ’16 took home a solid victory in the shotput with a mark of 48 feet 11.75 inches.

“He has really improved this year,” Beatty said of Plunkett’s performance, in which the sophomore thrower posted a mark that was one foot three inches longer than last week.

Other scorers for the Panther men included Will Bain ’15, who tied for second in the 55 meter dash with a time of 6.73, and teammate Bryan Holtzman ’14 finished close behind in fourth, running 6.74. James Lynch ’16 took second in the triple jump with a mark of 38 feet 6.75 inches.

The host Catamounts once again took home the overall victory as their men scored 88.5 points, while the Peacocks’ 46 points were good for second place. The Panther men finished at 30.5 in third.

“It was a good meet for us,” Beatty said of the day as a whole. “We are still focusing on building up our technique with the field events and strength with the running events.”

Captain Lottie Hedden ’14 spoke for those who began their season on Friday, especially the distance runners who treated the day as more of a glorified workout.

“Energy was high and many athletes took advantage of the casual nature of the meet and tried running a new event. All-in-all it was a great starting point for the season and everyone is excited for more competition next week,” Hedden said.

The Panther squad will continue their season at the McGill Team Challenge in Montreal on Jan. 24 and 25.