In 2019, & Juliet opened on Broadway, twisting the Shakespearean classic Romeo & Juliet by focusing on Juliet: What would have happened if she lived? Juliet deserves her own story, as does the Middlebury field team.
On Jan. 10, Middlebury track & field debuted its 2026 indoor season at the Middlebury Snowflake Invitational with a bang. Andreas Panagos ’28 won the men’s weight throw at 14.36 meters, Emily Rubio ’26 paced the whole field with wins in the women’s long jump (5.24m) and 60-meter hurdles (9.37 seconds), and Lilly Wurtz ’26 set a Middlebury indoor record in shotput with a 12.63 meter heave.
Track & field’s indoor season culminates in the indoor championship, taking place in late February in Boston, before the outdoor season begins. Then the team sprints towards outdoor NCAA championships in May. But it all begins with three home meets to kick off J-Term.
Because of the Virtue Field House’s extensive facilities (track, turf, jump pits, pole vault area), Middlebury is uniquely positioned to host indoor events, allowing the track & field team to start off the season from the (indoor) comfort of Vermont.
“Having these home meets to start J-Term really helps bring the whole team together. We can cheer each other on in these small-meet settings,” captain thrower Julia Tulimieri ’26 said. Tulimieri herself won the women’s weight throw with a meet personal best of 14.67 meters.
Head coach Martin Beatty echoed the sentiment of unity, refuting the notion of track & field as an individual sport.
“We don’t want silos,” Beatty said. “This is a team sport.”
In a sport that relies so heavily on team chemistry, it’s no surprise that Beatty had other coaches telling him that last year’s men’s squad was “so tight-knit [that] they knew Middlebury would come out on top of the NESCAC championships.”
Having a semester to train for the track & field season can be a major benefit, especially since many high school competitors don’t have access to indoor throwing events. Among these is the weight throw, which closely resembles hammer throwing in outdoor track. For Middlebury’s first year throwers, these initial three meets give them a chance to settle in, Tulimieri explained.
During the outdoor season, high school throwers who compete in hammer throwing wield a long chain attached to a 16 pound ball for men and 8.8 lbs for women. In comparison, the weight throw has a shorter chain and much heavier weight — 35 lbs for men and 20 lbs for women.
Weight throws have the same diameter circle of 2.135 meters — the circular area from which athletes perform throwing events — as hammer throws, but are often done mechanically in three turns instead of four, requiring greater core and torso strength. Because most states don’t have the weight throw, most freshmen throwers come in without any experience in the event.
“I had about a month of practice with the weight throw,” thrower Adam Ferreira ’29 said, who is also a defensive back on the football team. Regardless, Ferreira made it past his flight and into finals as a complete newcomer to the event.
Now over to jumps. Two first year jumpers, Chase Hoey ’29 and Lily Haskins Vaughan ’29, the future of Middlebury women’s high jump, finished T2 with 1.58 meter jumps. “They’re both from Western Massachusetts and grew up jumping against each other,” Coach Beatty said.
Middlebury proceeded to dominate the pole vault, as Caleb Smith ’27 took home top honors for the men (4.25m) and Claire Miller ’26 crushed the competition on the women’s side (2.95m).
It might be early in the campaign, but the Middlebury squad will look to build on their momentum through the end of J-Term and into the spring semester. Their story has just begun, and it looks promising.
Kanan Clifford '28.5 (he/him) is a Sports Editor.
Kanan is a probable Molecular Biology/Biochemistry major, with additional interests in history and politics. At Middlebury, he sails, is on the board of the South Asian Students Association, and is an avid baker!
