Springfield fields two winning teams this early in spring

Author: Livingston Burgess

Both of Middlebury's track teams started off their post-break outdoor seasons at home Saturday, focusing primarily on individual development at the expense of their team scores.

Springfield College won handily on both the men's and women's sides of the Middlebury Invitational, outpacing the home team as well as Bowdoin and Colby-Sawyer with 283.5 men's points and 229 women's. The Panthers showcased many of their strengths, though, with high finishes in several events despite having to scratch a number of key athletes, due either to injury or training consistency.

The Middlebury men notched one event win on the day, as Connor Wood '11 gutted out a tough home stretch in the 800-meters to hold off a pair of Springfield runners. Wood posted a time of 1:59.86, breaking two minutes for the first time in outdoor competition this season. He contributed nine of the team's 93 total points.

"[Wood] really showed us what he can do," said head coach Martin Beatty. "He was under two minutes, and he can go further down, too. He's a freshman who's just coming into his own, and a terrific worker. I really like his turnover … this was not a big surprise for us."

Another first-year, Adam Dede '11, garnered second place in the pole vault with a height of four meters, and Micah Wood '10 was fourth in the 100-meter dash at 11.57.

Other high placers included Andres Gonzalez-Stewart '09 (third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, 10:27.57), Ben Fowler '09 (fourth in the 400-meter hurdles, 1:00.71) and Greg Bassell '08, who shattered his personal best in the hammer throw (fourth, 38.92 meters) and qualified for the NESCAC championship meet.

"This is a big milestone for him," said Beatty of Bassell, who was ebulient after eclipsing his previous mark by over four meters. "I knew it would happen this spring because all through the winter his spins have been looking great."

The women had a little better time of team-scoring than the men, chalking up 191 points. They were strong across all the distances, with wins from Anjuli Demers '10 (200m, 26.36), Grace Close '11 (400m, 1:00.89), Sophia Spring '11 (1,500m, 4:49.36), Laura Dalton '10 (400m hurdles, 1:06.05), Sarah Wilson '08 (pole vault, 3.0 meters) and the 4x400m relay team of Demers, Dalton, Simone Weisman '09 and Elizabeth Faust '11.

The Panther women might actually have picked up the win on the day, had they not sacrificed some points to keep from overtaxing one of their strongest runners. Alexandra Krieg '09, who was an indoor All-American in the 5,000m this winter, came in right on Spring's heels in the 1,500m and was closely trailed by Kate Hirschboek '08. But while Hirschboek doubled up in the 800m (second, 2:23.43), Krieg and all the other women Midd entered in the 5,000m dropped out after seven and a half laps, ceding the race's points to Bowdoin and Springfield.

Beatty explained that the team's distance coaches "just felt that, given what people had done so far, they needed to run a 3K. We told the other coaches, that was pre-planned. It's actually not that uncommon a thing in track and field."

The two Middlebury teams had some conspicuous absences on the day, particularly men's co-captains Ian O'Reilly '08 and Jimmy Butcher '08. Both are key parts of the men's middle- and long-distance crews, and though Wood and others, including Russell Griggs '10 and Gonzalez-Stewart, stepped up well, the loss of two captains is always keenly felt. In addition, neither Pat Sedney '08 nor Kris Williams '11 competed in the pole vault.

O'Reilly and Butcher both have minor injuries that would not have kept them out of a more significant meet, and Sedney was interviewing for a job. All three should be back in fine form for the all-important NESCAC championship meet on April 26.