The Middlebury track and field team rounded out the final week of competition before the NCAA championships by taking part in the Tufts Last Chance and the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECACs) meets.
One relay and two individuals ran in the Tufts Last Chance meet on Thursday March 6 at Gantcher Center.
The 4x400 meter team of Peter Hetzler ’14, Fritz Parker ’15, Alex Nichols ’17 and Bryan Holtzman ’14 entered the meet looking to better their season-best time of 3:16.82 and secure one of twelve NCAA qualifying spots, in the end finishing with a time of 3:23.64 on the flat track.
“Tufts was a unique experience,” Holtzman said. “There was originally another team entered in the 4x400m but they scratched out. This meant that we were the only team on the track in the last event of the night. Given that we had no competition, we all ran a bit slower than we wanted to and were capable of, but we weren’t upset with our performance.”
The rest of the Middlebury squad was rounded out by Wilder Schaaf ’14.5 and Luke Carpinello ’16, who headed to the line in the mile and the 800, respectively. Schaaf won his race in a time of 4:14.89 and Carpinello took 11th in 2:02.16.
Saturday, March 8, brought another day of competition for a small group of Panther athletes as the team participated in the ECAC championships at the Reggie Lewis Center.
The men’s contingent consisted of Brandon Cushman ’16, who took 17th in the 500 meters with a time 67.69, as well as Diego Galan Donlo ’14 who finished 19th in the high jump with a mark of 1.88 meters.
The 4x400-meter relay team took to the line for the second time of the weekend to attempt to better its chances of qualifying,. They ended up finishing in third with a time of 3:20.56.
“Our goal going into ECACs was to win and to improve upon our time from last week,” Holtzman said. “We did neither, but the winning team (SUNY-Oneonta) didn’t come close to our best time so we knew we were safe from being passed by any East Coast teams.”
On the women’s side, two Panther athletes competed. Hannah Blackburn ’17 finished off a successful first collegiate indoor season in the long jump with her second best jump of the year, taking 12th with a mark of 5.08 meters. Alex Morris ’16 emerged from the day victorious once again, winning the 400 meters in a time of 57.89 and earning herself the title of ECAC champion in the event.
The team now looks ahead to NCAA Championships, which will take place on March 14 and 15 at the University of Nebraska.
The Panthers will send three individuals and two relays to the meet, including the men’s 4x400-meter relay team which, despite not improving their time this past weekend, ended up hanging onto the 12th and final relay spot for the upcoming championship meet.
“As the 12th and final seed, we could surprise some teams and do some damage,” Holtzman said. “We all run well in big meets with good competition.”
The other Panther relay will be the women’s distance medley team consisting of Alison Maxwell ’15, Morris, Jackie Kearney ’16 and Erzsie Nagy ’17, who qualified in the sixth-place spot.
“Watch out for them,” Head Coach Martin Beatty said of the team. “They may surprise people.”
Individuals to compete include Schaaf in the mile and Morris in the 400, both of whom enter their meets as the 11th seed.
Schaaf ran the mile last Thursday at Tufts in order to lower his time, in the hopes of qualifying for NCAAs. Despite being unsuccessful at Tufts, he was able to slip into one of the qualiying spots when all of the entries were in.
“I’m really excited to have really fast girls that will pull me through that first 200 meters right to the breakline because a big weakness of mine is not pushing myself that first lap,” Morris said. “After that, I’ll just be focused on holding on to that speed and trying to pass as many girls as possible. In both championship races I’ve won this year, I only secured the lead in the last 50 meters, so I’m confident in my strength right to the finish line.”
Laura Strom ’14.5 is the final Panther athlete and sole field eventer, entering the meet with the highest ranking of anyone on the team. She is in a three-way tie for the best jump in the country this season at 5’8.5”.
“It’s a great group going and we are all going to be cheering for each other, and I love having the runners around because they are so insanely impressive,” Strom said. “We just support each other even though we don’t do the same events.”
“In this meet, the records get thrown out the window, and it depends on who shows up that day and wants it more,” Beatty said.
Track Teams Set to Compete for NCAAs
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