Track and field gets a mixed bag of results

Author: Alyssa O'Gallagher

To the fair-weather track fan or occasional follower, meet results can often be hard to interpret. Habituated to the win-lose dichotomy of almost every other Middlebury sport, it can be tempting to declare anything but a first place finish a loss. If you're not first, you're last. Right? Wrong.

This past weekend, the track and field team traveled to Dartmouth to compete in the Dartmouth Invitational in what amounted to the third straight week of less than ideal running conditions. While the women's team did not take home the top prize like a week before at the Middlebury Invitational, instead finishing third, the meet was definitely a win for Middlebury.

Head Coach Martin Beatty agreed that "despite not great weather conditions, the team really performed admirably." Facing tough Division-I competition from the University of Vermont, the University of New Hampshire and Dartmouth, as well as fellow Division III teams Tufts and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Middlebury certainly held its own.

Most saw the meet as a buildup to the NESCAC championship this weekend, and based on the results, Middlebury is in a great position going into the meet. The story of the Dartmouth Invitational was personal records across the board.

Coach Beatty was certainly encouraged by the personal records that are "starting to happen with everyone, which means the times are dropping down, the throws are getting out there further, the jumps are getting out there further," and his sentiments were echoed by several athletes.

Kaitlynn Saldanha '11 expressed that "a lot of people had Personal Records which shows that we're peaking at the right time and it's a great segue into NESCACs."

On the women's side, this flurry of PRs was enough to catapult the team to an impressive third-place finish, behind D-I competitors Dartmouth and UNH and ahead of UVM.

Carrying the sprinters, Annie Rowell '11 again had a great week, finishing third in the 200-meter dash. Saldanha and Becca Fanning '12 both had excellent races in the 800, ultimately placing fourth and sixth, respectively, and finishing less than a second apart.

In one of the standout performances of the meet, Erin Toner '11 finished second in the 1500 with a time of 4:38.78, which qualifies her provisionally for the NCAA National Championship meet. In another standout performance, Katy Magill '11 took second in the 400 hurdles, setting a new personal best, and fellow Panther Laura Dalton '10 took third, just behind Magill.

The women's 4x400 relay team of Magill, Fanning, Alice Wisener '11 and Grace Close '11 again raced well, finishing second overall with a sub 4:00 time, and the 4x100 relay team of Wisener, Rowell, Jen Brenes '09 and Co-Captain Jen Katz '09 also ran well, finishing third behind UVM and UNH.

Brenes also broke her own school record in the long jump, taking first in the event. Senior and Co-Captain Kelley Coughlan '09 finished second in the triple jump, balancing out the success of the younger athletes with some veteran talent.

On the men's side, the team's performance earned Middlebury a sixth-place finish right behind fellow NESCAC team Tufts, a talented team that Coach Beatty had predicted earlier in the season would shape up to be one of the stronger teams in the NESCAC.

Tri-varsity athlete Micah Wood '11 had a successful day, finishing fifth and sixth in the 400 and 200 dashes, respectively. Rookie Mike Schmidt '12 again ran well, finishing ninth in the 1500 with a time just over 4:00, and Jack Terrett '11 finished seventh in the 5000. John Montroy '12 and Jason Moody '12 added to the rookie success, finishing seventh and eighth, respectively, in the 400 hurdles. The men's relay team finishes echoed the women's but in reverse, with the men's 4x100 taking second and the 4x400 finishing third overall.

On the field event side, Adam Dede '11 and Nick Plugis '11 finished fourth in the pole vault and javelin throw, respectively, and rookie Alex Meyerson '12 consistently threw well, finishing seventh in the discus, behind mainly D-I athletes.

Overall, both the men and women proved that they can hang with the best, and Middlebury should be very confident heading into NESCACs after its performance at Dartmouth. "The team's ready for the NESCAC championships this weekend," said Coach Beatty, "So we're excited."

Perhaps Fanning put it best, asserting that "everyone's peaking at this point, which is perfect."