As the season begins, the men’s and women’s track and field teams have already started off strong. After participating in the unscored Dartmouth Relays, both teams captured first place finishes in last Saturday’s Middlebury Winter Classic.
A total of 148 points netted the men’s team first place. RPI came in second with 136 points and Franklin Pierce came in third with 101 points.
In the course of earning a first-place finish, the men’s side had quite a few first place finishers. Matthew Durst ’21 was first in the 400-meter dash with a time of 52.38. Jimmy Martinez ’19 was first in the 500-meter dash with a time of 1:04.87. A time of 2:38.10 got Sawyer Tadano ’21 first in the 1000-meter run. A time of 8.64 helped Mike Pallozzi ’18 to earn first in the 60-meter hurdles. John Natalone ’19 had a height of 4.35 m to get first in the pole vault event. Also, Minhaj Rahman ’19 threw a distance of 15.05 m in order to get first in 35-lb weight throw. Middlebury’s A team also got first in the 4x400 meter relay. The team was comprised of Martinez, Durst, Arden Coleman ’20 and Cam Mackintosh ’20.
The women’s team scored a hefty 157.50 points to gain first place. RPI came in second with 121.50 points and Franklin Pierce came in third with 106 points.
The women’s side had several events where several of their scorers came in the top eight. In the 200-meter dash, Kate Holly ’21 came in second, Gretchen McGrath ’21 came in fourth and Lizzie Walkes ’20 came in sixth. Respectively, their times were 27.33, 27.65 and 27.84. In the 400-meter dash, Kate McCluskey ’18 captured first and Kai Milici ’21 captured third. McCluskey had a time of 57.97 and Milici had a time of 1:02.70. Anna Willig ’20 with a time of 1:20.80 and Lucy Lang ’19 with a time of 1:21.08 came in first and second respectively in the 500-meter dash. First, second, and third in 60 meter hurdles were taken by Chima Dimgba ’21, Kisha Kalra ’18 and Catherine Walker ’20. In order, they had times of 9.45, 9.62 and 9.94. In the pole vault event, Kreager Taber ’19 got first with a height of 3.20 m and Molly Colwell ’20 got second with a height of 3.05 m. Victoria Toth ’21 was in a three way tie for third with a height of 2.90 m and Annalise Arant ’21 was in a two way tie for sixth with a height of 2.90 m.
Even with this great start, the team will look to improve as the season progresses. For now, they look forward to continuing their momentum at the Middlebury Winterfell this Saturday, Jan. 20, at Virtue Field House where the events will start at 11:30 a.m.
