Women set themselves apart at Division III New Englands

Author: Alyssa O'Gallagher

This past weekend, the Middlebury track and field team made its second trip to Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts to compete in the Division III New England Championship meet. The Middlebury women finished an impressive third in the team standings out of a total of forty competing schools.

Overall, the women have built remarkably on their success throughout the season, finishing the regular season with a strong second place finish at NESCACs and qualifying many athletes to launch the team successfully into post-season play. Middlebury went home with several All-New England athletes, an honor bestowed to the top eight finishers in each event.

Senior Jen Brenes '09, currently provisionally qualified for the NCAA National Championship meet in the high jump, placed sixth in the long jump and third in the 100 hurdles, earning her All New England honors in both events. Emer Feighery '09 finished seventh in the pole vault, also securing for herself All New England honors her last season at Middlebury.

Senior Co-Captain Kelley Coughlan '09, a perennial triple threat athlete for the team, also earned double All New England honors, finishing third in the triple jump and seventh in the 100 hurdles while fellow Co-Captain Jen Katz '09 finished fifth in the 100 dash and contributed to the third place finish of the women's 4x100 relay team of herself, Brenes '09, Annie Rowell '11, and Alice Wisener '11.

Coughlan expressed last week regarding NESCAC results, "our relays kicked serious ass" - and this week proved to be a repeat performance. All three women's relay teams garnered third place finishes, securing All New England honors for 11 different athletes.

In addition to the 4x100 team, both the 4x400 team of Wisener '11, Katy Magill '11, Laura Dalton '10, and Becca Fanning '12 and the 4x800 team of Erin Toner '11, Sophia Spring '11, Cailey Condit '11, and Margo Cramer '12 placed third in their respective events.

As is illustrated by the average age of the relay teams, the women's track and field team really is a fountain of youth with the rookies and underclassmen certainly pulling their weight as well. Mia Martinez '12 earned All New England honors with a fifth place finish in the 100 hurdles; Erin Toner '11 again had a phenomenal race in the 1500, finishing second and earning All New England honors in the process. Sophia Spring '11 and Margo Cramer '12 also earned All New England status in the same race, finishing seventh and eighth respectively.

Sophomore Alice Wisener had a phenomenal race in the 400 hurdles, finishing second with All New England honors and qualifying provisionally for the NCAA Championship meet in the process. Fellow sophomore Katy Magill finished the race in sixth and Annie Rowell '11 just edged out the competition to finish eighth in the 200, earning both All New England status as well.

As Head Coach Martin Beatty expressed, the team really has had "a terrific two weeks