Track and Field Breaks Records at DIII New Englands

The Middlebury track and field team competed well in the Division III New England Championships on Friday, May 3 and Saturday, May 4.  

Previously, Nick Hendrix ’20 said the team would prepare for the meet with a “business as usual” attitude. “There will probably a bit more of an individual focus as athletes concentrate on their best events and try to get qualifying marks,” Hendrix said. “As far as training goes, we’re all in good shape now, so our volume will go down and staying fresh is the priority.”

The men’s team finished in third place with 64 points. They were behind MIT, who finished with 139.50 points and Tufts, who finished with 89.50 points. To start the meet off, Hendrix finished in third place in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.76. Nathan Hill ’20 came in first place in the 800 meter run with a time of 1:50.56.  

On the 800-meter race, Hill said, “It was a great race. New England is particularly strong in the 800, and so tough competition usually breeds fast times. I always look forward to competing against that group.”

In the 1500-meter run, Jon Perlman ’19 and Will Meyer ’20 came in third and fourth place, respectively. Perlman had a time of 3:53.37 and Meyer had a time of 3:53.40. Theo Henderson’s time of 14:56.28 placed him second in the 5000-meter run. The 4x100 meter relay team composed of Noah Wagner-Carlberg ’19, Hendrix, Arden Coleman ’20 and Conor Banky ’19 got third place with a time of 42.08. A throw of 59.73 meters got Minhaj Rahman ’19 the win in the hammer throw event. Also, John Natalone ’19 captured third in the pole vault event, while Jack Litowitz ’20 ended in fourth in the 3000-meter steeplechase. 

“I think we performed very well at this meet,” Perlman said.  “It can be tough to come back from such an emotional meet like NESCACs, but we were still able to have a large number of people get personal bests and position themselves high up on the national qualifying list.”

The women’s team tied for seventh place in a total field of 34 teams with 34 points, while Williams and MIT came in first and second place respectively. The Panthers scored well in many of the races at the meet. Cassidy Kearney ’22 captured third place and Meg Wilson ’20 captured fourth place in the 800-meter run. Kearney finished with a time of 2:11.55, while Wilson had a time of 2:13.37. In the 1500-meter run, the Panthers were able to finish in the fifth, sixth and seventh spots. Here, Abigail Nadler ’19 had a time of 4:38.86, Rory Kelly ’19 had a time of 4:38.98 and Kate MacCary ’19 had a time of 4:40.35. The 4x400-meter relay team was able to come in fifth place with a time of 3:53.72. This team was composed of Lucy Lang ’19, Ava O’Mara ’21, Julia Munz ’22, Kearney and Gretchen McGrath ’21. Kreager Taber ’19 came in fourth in the pole vault event with a vault of 3.51 meters. Also, a throw of 39.96 meters placed Rebecca Gorman ’20 sixth in the javelin throw event.

Kearney said, “I was really excited and surprised with my performance at the meet this past weekend ... My coach (Nicole Wilkerson) is always cognizant of how to construct workouts so that athletes peak at the right time in the season, and I think that the performances in D3’s overall really showed how everyone is at their highest fitness level. I PR’ed by two seconds in the 800 to run 2:11, and I also was part of the 4x4 relay, in which we just barely broke the school record in 3:53.”

The Panthers’ journey to the end of the season continues,  as they will participate in the Open New England Championships on Friday, May 10 and Saturday, May 11, and then the NCAA Championships on May 23-25. This team definitely has the spirit to continue their success as the end of the season nears.  

“Open New England’s always has strong competition and we plan to prepare by challenging each other each and every day in practice,” Hill said. “It has been such a successful year thus far from a team perspective and we hope to continue that success.”

Kearney added, “Many athletes realized their potential and are now focusing on what goals they can accomplish next. This end portion of the season seems super fun as the level of competition rises.”