Men's and women's track earn NESCAC thirds

Author: Zamir Ahmed

The Middlebury men's and women's outdoor track teams each placed third at the NESCAC Championships on Saturday. Both teams finishing behind first place Williams College and second place Tufts University,. When all was said and done, four individual Panthers and one relay team claimed NESCAC titles in six events.

In the women's meet, the Panthers finished with 98 points, only one-half point ahead of host school Colby College, to repeat their third place performance from last year. The team was led by two of the day's NESCAC champions - Sarah Berkowitz '05 and Mary Fredrickson '07. Fredrickson took the top spot in the javelin with a throw of 34.96m, ahead of teammate and second place finisher Rachel Lincoln '08, who won silver with a mark of 34.59m.

In the pole vault, the Panthers put up another 1-2 finish as Berkowitz took the gold by clearing a height of 3.20m and teammate Sarah Wilson '08 took silver by getting over the bar at 3.05m. Berkowitz also earned a fifth place finish in the 4x400m relay, teaming up with Claire Schultz '07 and Co-captains Melissa Thacker '05 and Alli Williams '05 to finish the race in 4:12.37.

"Fredrickson and Lincoln and the pole vaulters were really exceptional," said Williams. "They were a big help and scored valuable points for us."

The women were not done there, as the Panthers had a number of other notable finishes. Thacker took home the bronze in the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:06.29, just ahead of fourth place finisher Williams who finished seven-tenths of a second behind. Schultz also had a pair of point-scoring individual finishes, stopping the clock in the 400m in 1:00.93 to take fifth before following it up with eighth place in the 800m. Three other fourth place finishes were turned in by the Panthers on the day - Lizz Huntley '08 in the long jump, Allison Brown '07 in the 1,500m and Renee Courchesne '06 in the discus.

On the men's side, Kevin Bright '06 stole the show for the Panthers, winning two individual titles and one relay gold. Bright set a new school-record and qualified for NCAAs with a time of 48.47 seconds in the 400m dash, finishing ahead of fellow Panther Patrick Swan '08 who took silver. Bright won his second gold of the day in the 400m hurdles, cruising to victory with a time of 53.19 seconds. Bright also teamed up with Swan, Co-captain Nick Digani '05 and first-year David LaRocca to form the Panthers' NESCAC-winning 4x400m relay team, which set a school-record by finishing the race in 3:17.95.

The Panthers' other star on the day was Khristoph Becker '06, who won gold in the javelin for the third straight year, finishing with a mark of 56.57m while Steve Atkinson '06 finished third in the event. Becker also scored points in four other events, taking second in the high jump, fifth in the 110m hurdles, sixth place tie in the pole vault and seventh in the discus.

A number of other athletes turned in impressive performances as the team improved on last year's sixth place finish at NESCACs. First-year racer Jimmy Butcher broke his own school-record in the 10,000m, earning silver with a time of 31:41.10. Digani added a pair of top five finishes to his relay gold, taking fourth in the 800m in 1:56.70 and fifth in the 1500m in 4:02.51. The Panthers' 4x100m relay team also had a great meet, taking silver in the event.

"Phil Ford '06 got onto the 4x100 as an alternate," said Williams. "He did not expect to be there but he ran really well. Co-captain Liam Aiello '05 was the anchor on that relay team and he also finished really strong."

With their third place finish the men's team improved on their showing from last year, when the Panthers finished sixth. Although the men were hoping to upset Williams for the title, the team believes that its strong underclassmen will help them take the championship next year.

The NESCACs mark the end of a successful team season for the Panthers. "It has been a great season," said Williams. "We had a lot of people who were dedicated to the team and stepped up big. The focus this year was on being more of a team and I think NESCACs were a culmination of that focus."

The focus of the Panthers will turn to how individual competition as a number of championship meets approach. Next week only a few athletes will journey to the New England Division Championship, held at Springfield for the men and Bates College for the women. A number of other individual competitions are also scheduled in the coming weeks, all culminating with the NCAA Division III Championship on May 26-28.