Five points.
That was the razor-thin margin that separated history from heartbreak for the Middlebury men's track and field team who were underdogs heading into last weekend's NESCAC Championship. The Panthers tallied 169 points to edge out Amherst College's 164, capturing their first conference title in six years and just the third championship in program history.
"It felt like Doctor Strange running through all the possibilities," said Hayden Bobowick '28. "There was only one way it would work, and it all came down to about five points."
The championship day started with field events setting a powerful tone. Dave Filias '25 won the hammer throw with 57.47 meters, while teammates Dan Urchuk '25 and Darnel Cineas '25 added fourth and eighth-place points. In the high jump, Sam McGarrahan '25.5 delivered a historic performance with a record-breaking leap of 2.00 meters, shattering the previous NESCAC record. The throws team later continued accumulating crucial points in shot put with three Panthers securing top-five finishes.
What truly electrified the team was their freshman class stepping up on the biggest stage. The 4x100 relay team of Marco Motroni ’25, Emerson Kington ’28, Bobowick and Donnell “DJ” Harvey Jr. ’28 secured gold with a time of 41.54 seconds, shattering the school record. The victory sparked a celebration with "100 people in the circle."
"I remember I was freaked out," Kington recalled. "I thought, 'Give me my trophy now.' It felt so right. They obliterated everyone else."
Harvey Jr. dominated the 100-meter dash with 10.79 seconds. In prelims, despite being seeded fifth, he ran with veteran confidence like he has been all season. In the 110-meter hurdles, Quinn Kennedy '26 claimed silver in 14.89 seconds (after being seeded eighth), while Finn Albright '27 took seventh. The momentum was building.
"DJ was running around like he's been there a million times," said Izzo Lizardi ’25. "That was one moment I knew these young guys were very locked in to really change history.”
By mid-meet, the Panthers had built a commanding 139–96 advantage. But the emotional rollercoaster was just beginning.
Xander Swann ’25 emerged as the meet's MVP. First, he captured gold in the 400 meters with a personal best 47.92 seconds — the only competitor under 48 seconds. Then, just an hour later, Swann took second in the grueling 400-meter hurdles with another personal record of 51.96 seconds – missing first by a mere 0.03 seconds.
"He just got out there and attacked it," Kington said. "When I saw that, I knew we were gaining real momentum."
Just when victory seemed assured, Amherst mounted a furious comeback in the distance events, unexpectedly going one-two in the 1500 meters and winning both the 800 meters and 5000 meters. As their lead shrank, the Panthers' tension mounted.
"The lead kept shrinking," McGarrahan said. "I was very superstitious. No one wanted to look at the team score. As soon as someone pulled out their phone, I would duck away."
With just five points separating the teams, everything came down to the 4x800 relay and triple jump. Middlebury coaching staff had made a strategic decision to pull their best 800-meter runners from the individual event and save them for the relay.
The strategy paid off brilliantly. While Amherst's tired runners "crashed and burned," the fresh legs of Zach Utz '26, Lachlan Bishop '26, Cameron Miles '28 and Will Lavey '25 secured a crucial second-place finish with a time of 7:39.26.
Notably, the team trusted first year Miles to anchor the relay. "Lavey is a captain of our team, and he was like, 'I want Cam to anchor. I trust Cam,'" Lazardi explained. "The guy with the least NESCAC experience — they put the baton in his hand and said, 'Cam, bring it home.' And he did."
"The energy around the track was insane," Miles said. "At every single point, there were just people screaming. It was the loudest I've ever heard a track meet."
By the time the 4x800 finished, calculations showed it was mathematically impossible for Amherst to catch up in triple jump – the final event of the day. Still, the team's anxiety persisted until the very end, with everyone running calculations over and over.
The emotional dam finally broke when confirmation came from an unexpected source.
"Riley and Jackson from the women's team came down with tears in their eyes," McGarrahan remembered. "At that point, we hadn't accepted that we had won... but then we realized we didn't do the math wrong. We won." What followed was an emotional release three years in the making for the seniors.
Ask the athletes what made the difference in their five-point victory, and they'll point to something that doesn't show up in the results: brotherhood.
"We won with love," Lazardi said.
Throughout the competition, every member of the approximately 70-person roster was present, whether competing or not.
"The guys who weren't competing were everywhere," Harvey Jr. said. "I remember McGarrahan just finished high jump, came off his win and immediately picked me up after our relay. I was in the air, didn't even expect it."
The seniors, who contributed approximately 90 of the team's 169 points, led not just in scoring but in spirit.
"At no point were the seniors scoring for glory," Harvey Jr. said. "They were there for us. They were there to support, and winning was the first goal."
This created a unique motivation in pressure-filled moments.
"When they are brothers that you love who are chanting your name, your name has such a different meaning. You can hear that in your voice — they're not just fans, they're brothers,” Bobowick said.
By five points, the team made history, created memories and reminded themselves why they compete in the first place. The competition was tough, and at the end of the day everyone was a contributor to the win. For the Middlebury men's track and field program, this championship wasn't just the end of a six-year drought — it was validation of a brotherhood built practice by practice, season by season. And it might well be just the beginning of a new dynasty.
Ting Cui '25.5 (she/her) is the Business Director.
Ting previously worked as Senior Sports Editor and Staff Writer and continues to contribute as a Sports Editor. A political science major with a history minor, she interned at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. as a policy analyst and op-ed writer. She also competed as a figure skater for Team USA and enjoys hot pilates, thrifting, and consuming copious amounts of coffee.
