Track & Field Record Program Best Finishes

Bringing the competitive fire they have brought to every meet this season, both the men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams made a splash on the big stage of the Division III New England Championship meets. Middlebury hosted the women’s championships at Virtue Field House, while the men’s team travelled to Cambridge, Mass where the men’s championships were taking place at M.I.T.

The women’s squad raced to an impressive third place finish out of 37 teams and toppled several school and facility records in the process.

Captain Jackie Kearney ’16, who ran the first leg of the winning 4x400 meter relay for the Panthers, was quick to credit the team’s chemistry after Saturday’s strong finish.
“We’re an extremely close team this year,” Kearney noted. “That chemistry really showed on Saturday with the continuous support we gave each other in every event.”

The women’s team finished with an impressive total of 82 points, 30 points above the fourth-place finisher, Southern Maine and just 11 points behind NESCAC foe Williams. The Panthers scored in every running event but four.

Highlights for the Panthers included two individual New England champions. Alex Morris ’16 won the 400-meter dash by half a second. Adrian Walsh ’16 joined Morris in the winner’s circle for individual events with her performance in the 5,000-meter race.

Relay victories came for the Panthers in the 4x400, run by Kearney, Paige Fernandez ’17, Lucy Lang ’19 and Morris. The team of Claire Gomba ’19, Isabella Alfaro ’18, Robin Vincent ’18 and Lauren Bougioukas ’16 won the 4x800. The Panthers also won the distance medley relay ran by Alexis Jabukowski ’19, Kate McCluskey ’18, Nicole Schachman ’16 and Abigail Nadler ’19. Additionally, Nadler etched her name in school records with her second-place finish in the 3,000-meter race, clocking a time of 10:08.38. Maddie Pronovost ’17 also set a school record in the pentathlon, registering 2,974 points, good for sixth overall.

As Kearney pointed out, this year’s squad isn’t just full of one-trick ponies.

“We’re a really deep team,” she said, “which showed in how capable we were of placing with a relatively small team competing yesterday. Most people who scored points did so in more than one event.”

A top-eight finish both earns the team points and garners the athlete All-New England DIII honors.

Head Coach Martin Beatty ’84 couldn’t help but be proud of both teams’ efforts.

“There are a lot of strong DII track teams in New England,” he pointed out, “and for us to be 3rd and 6th is terrific. It was nice to see some of our women break school records and set facility records. We had 26 men qualify, which is the most ever, so in share numbers, they proved to be a much formidable force than in recent years.”

In Cambridge, the men’s squad finished tied for sixth, which they managed to accomplish without a single first-place finish.

James Mulliken ’18 continued rewriting the school record books on the men’s side. Mulliken continued his strong season by besting the 600-meter dash record, clocking a time of 1:22.36, good for fifth overall. Kevin Serrao ’18 finished fourth in the 1,000-meter race, Sebastian Matt ’16 crossed the line eighth in the 5,000-meter run, and Alex Nichols ’17 and Jimmy Martinez ’19 finished fourth and fifth in the 400-meter dash, respectively.

For the team events, the distance medley relay squad of Tyler Farrell ’18, Sam Cartwright ’16, Lucas Carpinello ’16 and Jonathan Perlman ’19 finished second, while the 4x400 relay team of Brandon Cushman ’16, Mulliken, Martinez and Nichols finished third. Finally, John Natalone ’19 placed third in the pole vault, while Deklan Robinson ’16 wound up fifth in the high jump.

After the weekend, Beatty harped on his team’s intangibles.

“They’re a great bunch of people, not just good athletes.” Beatty said. “ I love to see the relationships develop and grow strong.”

Next weekend, both teams will head to the Open New England Championships at Boston University to compete against a field comprising both DI and DIII athletes.