Strom Jumps to New Height at Dartmouth

The track team began its indoor season on Sunday, Jan. 12, at the Dartmouth Relays in Hanover, NH. While the distance squad, which is comprised mainly of cross country runners, stayed at school to get in more rest and training in preparation of its second of three consecutive seasons, the rest of the team traveled south to compete against a group of mostly Division I schools at Leverone Field House.

On the men’s side, one of the highlights of the day came with Jason McCallum’s ’14 fourth-place finish in the pole vault, where he finished at a height of 14 feet and 1.25 inches. Another solid performance came in the 400m, where Alex Nichols ’17 won his heat and took sixth overall with a time of 50.97.

“The meet was basically a way to get a reference point for the rest of our year,” Nichols said. “It was the first time we really got to see how we stacked up against some very good teams as well as what we need to keep working on. Now we’re actually in season and can keep striving for improvement.”

The team also put forward a nice showing in the 4x400 meter relay, taking seventh place in a field of 20 teams with a time of 3:31.10. As a whole, the men’s squad finished in ninth-place with a total of six points. The host Dartmouth men took home the title, edging Southern Connecticut State by seven points for a total of 120. The only other NESCAC school at the meet, Williams, finished in fifth with 32 points.

On the women’s side, the day brought a number of exciting Panther performances. Laura Strom ’14.5 won an impressive victory in the high jump with a mark of 5 feet 8.5 inches, making her the top-ranked women’s high jumper in the nation. Alex Morris ’16 also put forth an excellent performance in the 400m, where she took second overall with a time of 58.99, running herself into a third-place NCAA ranking for the event. The women’s team as a whole totaled 19 points, finishing in sixth place and edging NESCAC competitor Tufts by one point. The Williams women were also in attendance, taking fourth place. Once again, Dartmouth took home top honors, decisively edging Harvard with 140.5 points.

“It’s the first meet of many weekends between the winter and spring. While performances will improve and peak by the end of the year, this was a good start. A few people really surprised us with just how good of a start they would have,” head coach Martin Beatty said.

“Not being able to truly train like we would if we had an indoor track does hurt, but we are trying our best to overcome and work hard. At the same time it’s fun to run against some D-I competition and as usual we held our own and of course, Strom beat all of them.”

As they begin to shake off the rust, the Panthers return to action this Friday, Jan. 17, at the University of Vermont.

THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN BY FIONA MALONEY-McCHRYSTAL