Track and Field Bests Div. I Teams at Army

 

The Middlebury men’s and women’s track and field squads competed at Army against four Division I schools on Saturday, April 13.

The men finished second with a score of 120.50, behind Army but well ahead of Binghamton, Columbia and Colgate.  The women’s team scored 87 points and finished fourth behind Columbia, Army and Binghamton but ahead of Colgate.

“We’ve become accustomed to running against Division I teams,” said sprinter Andrew Headrick ’16, alluding to the fact that Middlebury has run against Dartmouth and UVM a handful of times this year.  “It’s fun to race against some big-name schools.  But it’s important to stay focused on what we can control.”

“Track is track,” said head coach Martin Beatty. “Most of their athletes were like NESCAC athletes. The nice thing about track is you’re always going against the stop watch or the measuring tape.”

Middlebury’s best individual performances of the day came in the men’s 1500 meters where Jack Davies ’13 and Wilder Schaaf ’14 went 1-2 among a field of 17 runners.  Sam Carwright ’16 placed fourth in the event with a time of 3:57.31.  Alison Maxwell ‘15 placed third in the women’s 1500 meter at 4:37.85.

“It’s great to see Alison picking up right where she left off from indoor season,” said Beatty.

Deklan Robinson ’16 cracked the top three in the men’s high jump at 1.89 meters and was followed by teammates Taylor Shortsleeve ’15 and Diego Galan Donlo ’14.  Emily Dodge ’13 finished fourth in the women’s long jump.  Nick Spencer ’14 placed fifth in the men’s long jump.

First-years Carly Andersen ’16 and Ian Riley ’16 each placed fourth in their respective javelin events.  Dana Tripp ’14 placed fifth in the women’s hammer throw.

“Carly and Ian are both very promising as first-years,” said Beatty.

Will Bain ’15 impressed by finishing second out of 10 in the men’s 100-meter dash.   Sam Craft ’14 placed third in the men’s 800 meters while running a 1:55.03.  Sarah O’Brien ’13 managed a fifth-place finish on the women’s side with a time of 2:18.15.

Jackie Kearney ’16 finished fourth in the women’s 400-meter hurdles and Kevin Chu ’14, Louis Cornacchione ’13 and Jake Wood finished 4-6 in the men’s 400-meter hurdles.  Bryan Holtzman ’14 finished second in the men’s 200-meter dash in a field of 17 runners.  Juliet Ryan-Davis ’13 and Alexandra Morris ’16 finished 3-4 in the women’s 400-meter dash, while Peter Hetzler ’14 finished third in the men’s by running a 50.15.

Both the men’s and women’s teams finished third in the 4x400-meter relay.  The men’s team included Fritz Parker ’15, Patrick Rooney ’13, Cornacchione and Hetzler.  The women’s side consisted of Ryan-Davis, Morris and first-years Olivia Artaiz ’16 and Halle Gustafson ’16.  The men’s 4x100 meter relay team of Chu, Holtzman, Parker and Bain finished second with a time of 42.87.

Addie Tousley ’13 and Katie Carlson ’15 were the only competitors in the women’s 5000-meter run.  Tousley finished first with a time of 17:28.97.  Summer Spillane ’15 was the lone runner in the women’s 3000 meter steeplechase and finished in 12:26.38.  Aaron de Toledo ’16 was the sole collegiate runner in the men’s 3000 meter steeplechase and came in at a time of 9:55.84.  Kevin Wood ’15 and Melake Getabetcha ’13 finished 3-4 in the men’s 5000-meter run.

“It’s a nice confidence boost for us getting ready to go into postseason with the NESCAC Championship,” said Beatty.

“The women didn’t do as well on the team side of things, but I think they can still be right at the top of the NESCAC, too.”

Both the men and women return to action this Saturday, April 20, when they host the Middlebury Invitational. The teams will travel to Tufts the following weekend for the NESCAC championships.

“This week will be a fun meet to have with the parents and the seniors’ last meet at home,” said Beatty. “So it will be a meet to tune-up and get ready for the postseason. Two weeks from now will be the big test.”