The track team routed the competition on Saturday at the Middlebury Outdoor Invitational. It was not particularly close, with the women’s team scoring 418 points compared to second place Plattsburgh State (108.5 pts) and third place Union (85.5 pts). The men’s team also came in first place of the seven team’s competing, scoring 398 points.
While the competition may not have been stiff, the meet carried plenty of benefits for a team that’s on the road a lot in the spring.
“Competing at home is just so much fun. Our home meet is a pretty low stakes event,” Captain Eva Kaiden ’23 said. “I honestly think it's important to have days where we remember how fun it is to do the sport without getting so in our heads about timing and qualifying for future meets and edging out the competition.”
That showed with impressive performances from almost every event. Kaiden and her crew of relay stars Melissa White ’26, Michelle Louie ’24 and Cady Barns ’23 finished in first in their signature event with a time of 47.76, three full seconds faster than second place. The same group gave Kaiden her proudest moment of the season when they broke the school record in San Diego over March break.
Other standout performances included Emily Rubio ’26 winning the 100 hurdles in 15.03 seconds, Kate Kenny ’23 putting down a 18:05.50 winning time in the 5k and the Panthers claiming the top four spots in both the 200m and 800m.
The men’s team was equally impressive. In the 4x100 relay, the team of Marco Motroni ’24, Richard Clark ’26, Xander Swann ’25 and Aaron Tobias ’24 came in first place with a time of 42.85. Peter Hansen ’23 also came in first place in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 54.92.
Saturday also proved to be bittersweet as the team celebrated the class of 2023 for Senior Day.
“It’s a tradition for the underclassmen to post all the seniors’ roster photos from freshman year and senior year up outside the locker room,” Kaiden said. “Walking down there and realizing that my face would be up there this year felt a little surreal, and seeing all the people I came here with, some looking more different from freshman year than others, was definitely something.”
With a relaxing, yet dominant, performance on Saturday, men’s and women’s track look forward to next Saturday for the NESCAC Championships at Conn College.
Ryan Heinzerling '24 (he/him/his) is one of the Sports Editors!
He's studying English and Political Science. Outside of his studies, Ryan is also a member of the Middlebury College Ski Patrol, has a radio show at WRMC, and spent this previous summer working as a Corporate Partners Intern at the New York Mets!
