The Middlebury men's track and field team has been rewriting the record books this season, and the whispers around the NESCAC are growing louder — the Panthers might just be on the verge of claiming their first conference championship in six years.
With a program-record six All-American selections after the NCAA Indoor Championships and a string of broken school records, Head Coach Martin Beatty's squad is a dark horse for the Championship title as they prepare for the crucial stretch of their outdoor season.
“Every year we've always said, 'this is the year,' but this is the year now,” hurdler Josiah Durfee ’25 said. “We last won in 2018-2019 [season]... it’s really just like the glory days. All the seniors on the team, my class, have gone through three years of disappointment, and I think we're really ready to give it our all this last time.”
The Panthers' impressive fourth-place finish at the Division III Indoor New England Championships, where they tallied 70.33 points behind powerhouses Amherst, MIT and Tufts, showed that this team has the firepower to compete at the highest level.
“This is the strongest team we've ever had,” said senior jumper and co-captain Sam McGarrahan ’25.5. "Our senior class has been kind of looking forward to this — we always thought we had a very strong class, and this is kind of our chance to show it.”
The Panthers' rise has been fueled by an unprecedented wave of All-Americans and record-breaking performances. In the indoor season alone, six school records fell as the team showcased its remarkable range of talent.
Freshman sprinter and Second-Team All American Donnell Harvey Jr. ’28 has been a sensation, setting and resetting the program’s 60-meter dash record with a blistering 6.80 seconds at the Tufts National Qualifying Meet. Senior thrower Dan Urchuk ’25 was equally dominant there, breaking the school shot put record with a heave of 15.51 meters. The distance crew, traditionally the program's backbone, continues to excel with Drew Donahue ’25 breaking his own 3,000m record, which he set back in 2022.
The Distance Medley Relay (DMR) Team of Zach Uts, Emerson Kingston, Will Lavey, and Donahue earned First-Team All American honors — not done since 2019 when they won the event at the NESCAC Championships.
Ziggy Goddard ’25 has also established himself as one of the division's premier middle-distance runners, earning first-team All-American honors in the mile and posting the second-best time in the 3,000 steeplechase (9:24.20) at the Aztec Invitational.
Not to be outdone, the jumpers have raised the bar literally and figuratively. Sam McGarrahan smashed the program's high jump record, clearing an impressive 2.05m — a record he set himself earlier this season at the Middlebury Snowflake Invitational. Meanwhile, Sam Opawuyi ’27 rewrote the school's triple jump record with a massive 13.93m leap at the Aztec Invitational.
“I was able to go to Nationals during indoor season, which was kind of beyond my college goals,” McGarrahan said of his record-breaking high jump performance. “Our jumpers are such a unique group. Sam Opawuyi was able to beat the school record a couple weeks ago in the triple jump, which he's been dying to do.”
At the start of the season, Caleb Smith ’27 also broke his school record in the heptathlon with 4.953 points at a home meet. He claimed first in the multi event at the Indoor Championships.
Also worthy of a men tryout is the Panthers' hurdle squad. This group has transformed from a small, specialized group into one of the team's secret weapons. The evolution of the squad can be seen through senior Xander Swann ’25, who was named NESCAC Men's Track Athlete of the Week after posting a personal-best 52.54 in the 400-meter hurdles at the Aztec Invitational — finishing ahead of multiple Division I competitors.
Suffice to say, there is incredible depth to the team this season.
Behind the scenes, the Panthers attribute much of their rise to a stellar recruitment effort that has brought elite talent to Middlebury across all class years. The culture established by head coach Martin Beatty, and his specialized coaching staff, have turned a collection of talented athletes into a unified force with a shared mission.
“I feel like Coach Martin's unspoken pillar that he rests the team on is friendship and a sense of community,” McGarrahan said. “He's not trying to build a team. He's trying to build a group of like 100 friends.”
With the NESCAC Championships looming on April 26 at Wesleyan University, the anticipation within the program is brewing. The Panthers have positioned themselves for what could be a historic championship run, ready to challenge the conference's established powers. According to the team, Amherst and Tufts pose significant challenges.
If the Panthers can maintain their current trajectory and stay healthy, the program's first NESCAC title since 2019 appears within reach — a fitting culmination for a season already defined by record-breaking performances and achievements.
“It really just comes down to what you can do the day of, and the people that you have around you to support you through it,” McGarrahan said.
For a program that has consistently finished in the top 10 at the New England Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championship for seven consecutive seasons, this year's squad appears ready to take that final step, decisive step from contender to champion.
Ting Cui (she/her) is a Sports Editor.
Ting has previously contributed as a sports writer and spent the past year in Washington, D.C., where she interned at the National Press Club as a policy analyst and politics writer. She also interned as an Editor at Fair Observer this past summer, focusing on stories related to international politics and security.
Ting is majoring in Political Science and minoring in History. She is also competitive figure skater for Team USA and enjoys hiking, thrifting, and consuming copious amounts of coffee.
