Indoor Track Sends Three to NCAA Divisionals

Author: Erich Kahner

The men and women's indoor track and field teams continued to improve over the last two weeks. Several athletes garnered top finishes at the Saint Lawrence Invitational on Jan. 18 and at the McGill Invitational last weekend.

A few individuals in particular put together a string of championship caliber performances. Sarah Berkowitz '05, Kevin Bright '06 and captain Adri Logalbo '03 qualified for some postseason meets in March.

Berkowitz, a pole-vaulter, will represent Middlebury in the Open New England, Eastern Coast Athletic Conference (ECACs) and Division III New England championships . With her vault of 10' 5.5" at Saint Lawrence, she also came within one and one-half inches of reaching the NCAA Division III national championships.

Bright proved multi-talented in surpassing the marks for ECAC's and Div. III New Englands in the 400 and 600 meter dashes and the long jump. He did it in style too, setting indoor school records (51.23 in the 400, 1:23.87 in the 600 and 21'0.5" in the long jump) in each of the events.

Logalbo, en route to a second place finish in which she and the winner broke the existing Saint Lawrence meet record, met the standards for ECAC's and Div. III New Englands in the 1000-meter run.

With Middlebury athletes receiving so many accolades so early, head coach Martin Beatty is pleased with his team's progress. "We are ahead of where we were last year at this point," explains Beatty. "And with the increase in the intensity of our training from last J-term, this comes as a pleasant surprise."

A few athletes aside, coaches expect to see some flat legs this Winter Term. In lieu of two-a-day practices and early meet departures, four times a week the team rises with the sun and gets to work before the construction crew behind Old Chapel.

"We hit it hard this month," exclaims assistant coach Nicole Wilkerson. "But after February break we cut back so the athletes can be sharp for their last few chances to qualify for some or all of the postseason meets."

Besides the three competitors who have already qualified, several panthers turned in performances the past two weeks that bode well for those last few chances.

Highlighting the many hopefuls are Nora Seger '06 in the 1500 and 3000 meter runs, and Greg Lazarus '06, Matt Engler '06, Liam Aiello '05 and Mike DeLeo '03 in the sprints. Jenny March '03 and Steve Atkinson '06 are two promising weight throwers, while Maryanne Porter '04 and Allie Williams '03 should excel in the middle distances.

The team enjoys a two-week hiatus from competition before getting back on the track at the Wesleyan Invitational on Feb. 9th.