Indoor track excels at Wesleyan

Author: James Schwerdtman

A week of hard work can really show when it comes to competition. Nowhere was this more apparent than this past weekend in Middletown, Conn., where Wesleyan College hosted the Wesleyan Track and Field Invitational.

Coming off of their season opener at Dartmouth the weekend before, the Panthers were looking to build on a number of strong performances against competition more similar to what they will be facing in the spring when the NESCAC meets begin.

Although the meet was not scored, the feeling after everything was said and done was that it was another solid day for the team.

"Everyone performed a lot better than last week," said Phil Gordon '11. "There's still room for improvement and we're still working towards the spring, but everyone looks like they're working at it and getting better."

Captain Ben Fowler '09 was also quick to point out the improvements the team made since last week. "We had a lot of good showings, and in a lot of events we beat these teams out," he said.

Because there were no points awarded in the meet, it is hard to make a definitive case for how Middlebury ranks compared to its competition. Still, according to Fowler, "We showed that we are as good if not better than these other NESCAC teams."

A brief look at the times makes it easy to see that Fowler has good reason to feel this way. John Montroy '12 qualified for the Division III New England's with a time of 8.33 seconds in the 55-meter hurdles. Addison Godine '11.5 finished first in the 800 meter, improving by two seconds from last weekend to 2:00, and Connor Wood '11 was close behind, coming in third at 2:02.

These two runners teamed up with Ethan Mann '12 and Max Mackinnon '09 to place first in the 4x800 meter relay. The exciting finish saw them beat a tough Amherst relay team by less than a second.

As anticipated, the underclassmen have provided a major spark for the team. "So far, the freshmen have really been gelling with the team," said jumper Tommy Mayell '11. "From what I've seen, the team is in position to have a competitive outdoor season."

On the women's side as well, the underclassmen have been getting themselves noticed in big ways. The women's 4x400 meter relay cruised to victory over Amherst and Wesleyan with Grace Close '11, Katy Magill '11, Julia Sisson '12 and Rebecca Fanning '12 matching their time of 4:13 from last week at Dartmouth.

"Everyone's been pulling their weight and we have a lot of great new first-years," said captain Kelley Coughlan '09, who finished first in both the triple jump and the high jump and came in third in the 55-meter hurdles, completing a Panther sweep of the event behind Jen Brenes '09 and Mia Martinez '12.

This weekend was also the first weekend for many of the field events and the throwers, specifically shot put.

"A lot of times people forget that it's called track and field," said Fowler. "We rely on our throwers to pick us up and score just as many points as our runners do. Our jumping and our throwing are both very important."

Just as with the runners, the throwers and jumpers are continuing to find their stride, and after another solid weekend, team morale is high for the Middlebury track and field squad.