Open N.E.'s looming large for Panthers

Author: Robbie de Picciotto

On Feb. 11, the Middlebury indoor track team traveled to Maine for a meet against Bowdoin and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. The team experienced much success during the weekend, which provided momentum heading into the D-III New England meet. Jen Katz '09 won both the 55m and 200m races with times of 7.44 and 26.93 seconds, respectively. Katz credited the team for her individual success, saying that "supportive teammates are always pushing me during both practices and meets. We get cheers going, which I think is not only helpful to the runners but also makes the races fun to watch." Another newcomer to the team, Kelley Coughlan, won the triple jump with a hop, skip and jump combination that exceeded 32 feet. The Middlebury women's indoor track squad also dominated the pole vault competition, in which Meira Lifson '07, Sarah Wilson '08 and Emer Feighery '09 each cleared 10'1" for a one, two, three finish. On the men's side, co-captain Kevin Bright '06 won both the 200m and 400m races. In a longer distance race of 3000m, Jimmy Butcher '08 finished victorious with a time of 8:49.71.

On Feb. 18, the indoor track teams competed in the Division Three New England meet. The men's side visited M.I.T. while the women returned to Bowdoin for their meet. The men finished 16th out of 24 teams and the women 12th out of 22 teams. For the women's team, Jen Katz again won the 55m and 200m races on her way to breaking her own Middlebury College records and posting new times of 7.43 seconds and 26.38 seconds. Her teammate and another rookie, Jennifer Brenes, also won a pair of All-New England honors by placing fourth in the 55m hurdles and eighth in the long jump.

The team had other members earning All-New England status as well, including Emer Feighery '09 in the pole vault, Simone Weisman '09 in the 600m, Emily Coles '09 in the 55m dash, and Sarah Wilson '08 in the pole vault.

For the men, individual results featured Kevin Bright's fourth place finish in the 400m with a time of 50.69 seconds and Patrick Swan's '08 seventh place finish in the 600m with a time of 1:24.04. Both of these times earned All-New England honors. Greater success came through relays. The group of Kevin Bright, Will McDonough '07, Jimmy Butcher and Patrick Swan finished second overall.

Butcher spoke highly of his teammates, saying, "the guys have incredible talent and determination. That's really what binds the team together, none of us like to come in second place. Some people would be satisfied with the way we raced but none of us were. That's really what makes this team special. We all want to take it to the next level." This Friday they will have another chance to qualify for Nationals when they compete in the Open New England meet against Division One schools.

During the upcoming spring season, the track and field team will build upon the successes and strengthen the weaknesses from the indoor track season. Katz said, "the team is going to keep improving as we head outside and we will achieve even more this spring." The track team is enthusiastic about showcasing the strides made during the winter season and is ready to pursue even better results outdoors. In the short term, Jimmy Butcher and his relay teammates are confident for this Friday's meet and are ready "to take care of business."