Track & field returns home with several All-N.E. athletes

Last weekend both the men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled to Maine to compete in the New England Championships. While the men competed at Bates in a field of 20 other schools, the women were one of 25 teams running at the University of Southern Maine. While the women were overall more successful, finishing seventh to the men’s 15th, several athletes on both sides received All-New England honors, awarded to athletes finishing in the top eight in their events.

Perhaps the highlight of the meet for the women, the 4x800 relay team of Becca Fanning ’12, Sophia Spring ’11, Cailey Condit ’11, and Margo Cramer ’12 finished first in their race, garnering New England champion status for the entire relay. In addition to dominating the 4x800, Fanning finished second in the 800, qualifying provisionally for the NCAA indoor championships in the process. Several other women’s athletes, dominated by rookies, also earned All-New England honors in their events.  Grace Doering ’13 finished second in the high jump. Fellow rookie Emily Dodge ’13 competed well in the field, finishing seventh in the long jump, while also finishing seventh in the 55 hurdles.  Sarah O’Brien just barely won All-New England honors, finishing eighth in the 1000.  Cramer represented the distance contingent with a fifth place finish in the mile and the distance medley team of rookies Jessica Berry ’13, Molly McLean ’13, O’Brien, and Spring School records finished third in their event.

Several school records were also set at the meet, an indication that, heading into postseason competition, the team is peaking at the right point in the season. The 4x200 relay team of Alice Wisener ’11, Anjuli Demers ’10, Mia Martinez ’12, and Anna Thurston ’13 built on their successes at MIT, finishing sixth and setting a new school record with a time of 1:50.23. Juliet Ryan-Davis ’13 set a new school record in the 600, while Julia Sisson proved her all-around athleticism finishing 12th in the pentathlon with a score of 2, 497 points, a new school record.

“The girls did awesome as usual,” said Mike Schmidt ’12, putting these results into words.  However, while the men’s team often seems outshined by the women’s on paper, Schmidt noted that “most of the athletes on both teams were able to beat a lot of people seeded ahead of them. A lot of us were underdogs and everyone competed very well.”
In fact, the men had several notable finishes, with Addison Godine ’11 at the front of the pack with a fourth place finish in the 800.  Schmidt, who has consistently been one of the men’s best distance runners, finished seventh in the mile and added some experience to the distance medley relay team of Nolan Link ’13, Patrick Hebble ’13, and John Davies ’13, which ultimately finished seventh in the event.  Rounding out the men’s All-New England contingent, Kristoffer Williams took sixth in the men’s pole vault with a jump of 14’ 11”, and John Montroy finished eighth in the 55 hurdles.

Overall, the teams see these positive results as a hopeful indicator of how the coming season will play out.
“The men’s team qualified more individuals and relays than we have in a long time,” said Schmidt, “and we had a bunch of All-New England guys (and girls), so we’re hoping to build on that success in outdoor.”