Individual performances led the way at Open N.E.s

Before the spring sports season gets underway, many track and field athletes elect to also train and compete for the indoor track team. The team has competed in several competitions starting at the beginning of January with a meet at Dartmouth.
“This is the strongest team we’ve had in years,” said Addison  Godine ’11. “The crew we brought to indoor DIII New Englands was the largest, one of the youngest, and the most successful in school history — we cracked the top ten for the first time ever. We’re excited to see what we can do this outdoor season.”
On February 19, the men’s team traveled to Springfield and the women’s team traveled to MIT to compete at the DIII New England Championships. The men cam out of the meet tied for ninth place, the best they have finished in ten years. The women preformed well enough to place fourth place at MIT. Members on both the men’s and women’s teams earned All-New England Honors with top eight finishes.
The women’s team included two individual champions and a championship relay. Grace Doering ’13 and Margo Cramer ’12 both won individual events in the high jump and the mile respectively. Cramer also set a meet, track and school record in a time of 4:54.38. The 4x800 relay comprised of Cramer, Kaitlyn Saldanha ’11, Cailey Condit ’11 and Katie Rominger ’14 also won the championship in a time of 9:32.82.
Most recently several members of the team competed in the Open New England Championships at Boston University. The women’s team placed 23rd and the men’s team placed 31st. At the meet two relays and one individual runner earned All-New England Honors. Colette Whitney ’14 earned honors in the 5,000m, earning fifth place with a time of 17:44.64. Whitney was also a member of the cross-country team that won the NCAA title earlier this year.
The DMR relay team of Saldanha, Erin Toner ’11, Juliet Ryan Davis ’13 and Sarah O’Brien ’13 finished in 12:16.09 earning them a sixth place finish and All-New England honors. Godine, John Davies ’13, Michael Schmidt ’12 and Peter Hetzler ’14 also finished sixth with a time of 10:00.78.
“Despite the excitement over the snow and wondering if we’d get back, it was a lot of fun and everyone ran amazing races, leaving it all on the track,” said Whitney.
The indoor team will compete in the ECAC championships this coming weekend at New York Armory followed by the NCAA Championships at Capitol University in Ohio before the start of the regular track and field season.