Track Teams Gear Up for DIII New Englands

The Middlebury Track and Field team faced competitive challengers in their two most recent meets. The first was a two-part meet, the David Hemery Invitational, on Friday, Feb. 9 and Saturday, Feb. 10. The second was the Gordon Kelly Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 10. Both meets were non-scoring.

In the David Hemery Invitational both teams accomplished great feats. On the men’s side, Jimmy Martinez ’19 achieved a time of 22.23 in the 200 meter dash to place 43rd. Along with that performance, Martinez registered a time of 44.55 in the 400 meter dash to place 21st. Paul Malloy ’18 had ran a time of 1:08.17 to get himself 31st place in the 500 meter dash. A final highlight for the men’s side was the eighth-place finish of the long distance medley relay team of Nathan Hill ’20, Arden Coleman ’20, James Mulliken ’18 and Kevin Serrao ’18. The quartet registered a time of 9:58.61.

For the women, Kate McCluskey ’18 did well in the 400 meter dash with a time of 56.21 which broke a school record. In the 800, Anna Willig ’20 placed in 75th and Brianna Bisson ’18 placed in 79th with respective times of 2:18.68 and 2:19.02. In the distance medley, Tasha Greene ’21, McCluskey, Meg Wilson ’20 and Abigail Nadler ’19 crossed the line with a time of 11:52.53. In the field portion of the meet, Alex Cook ’20 provided a highlight for the Panthers with a jump of 5.19 meters in the long jump, good for a 27th-place finish.

In the Gordon Kelly Invitational, the team pulled out some top notch finishes. Nate Evans ’20 had a time of 2:53.50 in the 1000 meter run to get first place for the men’s squad. Jake Guth ’19 ran the mile in 4:54.84 which was good for a fifth-place finish. Tyler Farrell ’18 placed third with a time of 8.77 in the 60 meter hurdles and Max Memeger ’21 competed in the long jump and reached 6.18 meters to get third place.

The highlight of the weekend, however, had to be the performance of Minhaj Rahman ’19, who broke a school record in the weight throw with a throw of 16.69 meters which happened to net him second place.

Minhaj was excited that his hard work paid off.

“Words couldn’t explain [how I feel],” said Minhaj about how breaking the record made him feel. “I came into Midd after a big accident that set me back far making me take months of therapy and taking medical leave for my first semester. Walking in to Midd, I wanted to make an impact on the team but I was too weak because of the accident and so that feeling pushed to try to improve.

“Ever since I walked into Midd, I wanted my name on that board and it was finally done. Because I’m one of the smallest throwers out there the division, I have to use my form to try to beat out the 250 lbs throwers out there. When I released the throw, I just knew that it beat the record. The throw felt effortless as it should and knowing that I had such a supportive coach and team that brought me to this stage made it more worthwhile.”

Cook and Lizzie Walkes ’20 competed in the 200 meter dash and achieved first and third place respectively for the women’s squad. Cook had a time of 27.15 and Walkes had a time of 27.45. Olivia Mitchell ’20 had a time of 2:30.00 in the 800 meter dash, good for seventh place. Julia Jaschke ’20 placed second in the 3000 meter race with a time of 10:55.41. Kreager Taber ’19 had a height of 3.35 in the pole vault to get fifth place. In the triple jump, Kisha Kalra ’18 got fourth place and Emily Allardi ’21 got seventh place. Kalra had a distance of 10.45 meters and Allardi had a distance of 10.08 meters. Lastly, Emily Ray ’20 competed in the weight throw and achieved eighth place with a throw of 14.18 meters.

“We wanted to create good standards to walk into DIIIs and the rest of the championship season with and I say we’re in a good place right now,” Minhaj said when asked about the last two meets. “We had great pole vault performances, the sprinters got good times on the banked track, our capt. Kate McCluskey also broke the 400 record, and my weight throw partner Emily also had a big pr as well so all in all we are looking solid and happy that we are finally in the championship season.”

Tomorrow and Saturday, Feb. 16-17, both teams will compete in the Division III New England Championships where they will use their experiences of the last few weeks to do their best. The men’s squad will be competing at home while the women’s side will be competing in Springfield.