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(05/06/15 12:39pm)
The track teams continued their postseason schedule on Friday, May 1, and Saturday, May 2, competing in the New England Division III Championships hosted by MIT. Though the meet is scored, Middlebury traditionally does not attempt to win the team title, instead looking for strong individual performances. As such, the men scored a meager seven points for 22nd place while the women tallied up 32 points to tie for 10th. MIT ran away with both the men’s and women’s meets: the men scored 171.5 points and the women’s 180.
Hannah Blackburn ’17 and Maddie Pronovost ’17 contested their first heptathlons of the year at the meet, earning strong results. The heptathlon is a two-day event comprising seven different track and field events. Each mark is worth a certain number of points; the athlete with the highest combined point total for all events is the winner. Blackburn eclipsed the school record by scoring 4177 points to place third and Pronovost scored 3708 points for eighth.
On the track, the race of the meet was the women’s 1500m. Robin Vincent ’18 continued her meteoric rise in the event, running an almost-10-second personal best of 4:31.66 for third place. Sarah Guth ’15 was close behind, finishing in 4:32.47, a personal best by more than three seconds, which placed her fifth in the meet.
“The race went out pretty fast — our first 400m was around 71 seconds,” Vincent said. “I got scared that I was going to burn out after the first lap, so I hung back a little bit and tried to draft on the runners in front of me. I was never in the lead, but early in the race I went out in the third lane to get around people and try to run right behind Sarah. I’m generally not a person who relies on a kick but I seemed to have one, which was awesome.”
Vincent is currently ranked seventh in Division III in the 1500m and Guth is ranked 10th. Additionally, Erzsie Nagy ’17 is ranked 17th and indoor mile national champion Alison Maxwell ’15 is sitting at 19th with times from earlier in the season. If the season ended today, all four women would qualify for the NCAA Championships in the event.
Devon Player ’18 and Carly Andersen ’16 continued their takeover of the javelin. Player got the best of Andersen this week by throwing a personal best 42.02m for second place. Andersen threw 40.61m to take third.
Other notable performances included Lauren Bougioukas ‘16 running a personal best of 2:18.59 in the 800m for 10th and Catie Skinner ’17 running a personal best of 11:36.43 in the 3000m steeplechase, good for 8th place.
For the men’s team, Luke Carpinello ’16 ran a personal best in the 800m of 1:54.39 to place eighth. Rookie James Mulliken ’18 ran a season best of 1:56.17 in the same event to win his heat.
Sebastian Matt ’16 was fourth in the 1500m by running 3:54.77, also a personal best. Tyler Farrell ’18 took 10th in the 400m hurdles with a personal best time of 55.89, his first race under 56 seconds.
In the field, Jared Whitman ’17 continued his impressive season in the pole vault, clearing 4.35m for yet another personal best. Conor Simons ’16 — the runner up in the vault at last weekend’s NESCAC championships — suffered a significant injury during the event and was unable to finish competing.
The teams will return to MIT on May 8 and 9 for the NEICAAA Championships, colloquially known as Open New Englands. The meet invites every track team in New England from all NCAA divisions, making for stiff competition and fast times.
(04/29/15 6:34pm)
On a sunny, breezy day in western Massachusetts, the track teams competed in the NESCAC Championships, hosted by Williams College on April 25. As the one true team competition of the year, the winning team retains bragging rights for an entire year. When the dust settled after over 8 hours of competition, the Williams women and Tufts men emerged as victors.
The Middlebury women finished third, scoring 98 points, while the men were fourth with 73 points.
The competition started with the men’s 10,000m. Jake Fox ’15, making his debut at the distance, won a sprint to the finish to take seventh place in a time of 31:52.22 and scoring two points to start the day.
Not to be outdone, Adrian Walsh ’16 led the charge in the women’s 10,000m, immediately taking control of the race. As the race progressed, though, Amherst junior Lexi Sinclair slowly worked her way up to Walsh, eventually passing her in the waning kilometers to take the lead and ultimately the victory. Walsh finished second by running 36:27.98. Katie Carlson ’15.5 finished fifth in a time of 37:01.60, running a very smart race for the entire distance.
The men’s 4x100m finished second in 42.82 seconds. The team of Sam Rives ’15, Mike Pallozzi ’18, Fritz Parker ’15 and Will Bain ’15 was only bested by the quartet from Williams, which featured the seventh-ranked 100m runner in Division III. Parker concluded his four-year career on that relay with two NESCAC titles and two runner-up finishes.
In the women’s 1500m, Sarah Guth ’15, Alison Maxwell ’15 and Robin Vincent ’18 were able to score a combined 18 points. Guth ran 4:38.52 for second, Maxwell finished in 4:39.37 for third, and Vincent — running just her second race of the spring season — hit 4:41.33, a personal best by over six seconds.
In the morning, the men were able to qualify three athletes into the afternoon’s finals of the 110m hurdles. The final saw Taylor Shortsleeve ’15, who was the morning’s fastest qualifier, finish fourth in a personal best time of 15.10. Rookies Pallozzi and Tyler Farrell ’18 finished in sixth and eighth with times of 15.35 and 15.44, respectively.
On a tough day for 400m running due to breezes, Alex Morris ’16 was able to finish fifth in a time of 60.28. For the men, defending champion Alex Nichols ’17 also finished fifth by running 49.80 while James Mulliken ’18 took sixth from an unseeded section with a personal best time of 49.93.
In the men’s 800m, rookie Kevin Serrao ’18 finished third in a personal best time of 1:53.50. Serrao was not intimidated by national champion Mitchell Black of Tufts, handling the quick early pace.
In the 400m hurdles, Paige Fernandez ’17 ran a personal best time of 64.21 to finish third and Jackie Kearney ’16 ran 66.46 for seventh. Defending champion Wood finished sixth in the men’s race by running 55.33.
Maxwell doubled back to win the 5,000m in 17:31.82, running comfortably behind the leaders of the race until the final lap when she put 10 seconds between herself and second place finisher Alison Smith of Williams to easily win the race. Alyssa Taylor ’17 quietly put together a personal best of over 10 seconds to finish eighth in a time of 18:16.60.
“My plan was to keep my head in the game and be very aware of how each race was playing out so that I could sit back and wait until the end of the races to make my move,” Maxwell said. “That didn’t work out so well for me in the 1500, which was a lot faster than I expected, but was great for the 5k, a race that I have little experience in and needed to not be too aggressive in.”
Two relays concluded the meet: the 4x400m and 4x800m. The men’s 4x400m of Parker, Farrell, Mulliken and Nichols finished fourth in a season best 3:24.25 while their women’s counterpart of Halle Gustafson ’16, Fernandez, Kearney and Morris took third in 3:58.54, also a season best. The men’s 4x800 of Luke Carpinello ’16, Sam Klockenkemper ’17, Sam Cartwright ’16, and Serrao also finished fourth with 7:55.44 and the women’s team, comprising Lauren Bougioukas ’16, Nikki Schachman ’16, Vincent, and Guth, took second by combining for 9:19.80.
The most impressive showing for Middlebury came in the women’s javelin. Carly Andersen ’16 won the event by throwing a huge personal best of 42.15m and Devon Player ’18 finished second with a heave of 40.81m.
Taylor Moore ’18 though filled the void left by injured teammate Ian Riley ’16, finishing fourth with a throw of 50.69m, a personal best by over five meters.
The men’s pole vault also stepped up with Conor Simons ’16 vaulting 4.30m for second place and Jared Whitman ’17 clearing 4.15m for third place. One of the most unpredictable events in track and field, the two Panthers combined for more points in the event than any other set of teammates in the field.
The teams will regroup to compete in the Division III New England Championships hosted by MIT on May 1 and May 2.
(04/22/15 1:49pm)
In their final meet before NESCAC Championships, the track teams competed in the University of Albany Spring Classic, hosted by SUNY-Albany on Saturday, April 18. The meet was not scored but served as a tune-up for the NESCAC meet as well as a last chance to improve seed times for the championships.
Alex Morris ’16 led the women’s team with a second-place finish in the 400m, clocking a time of 59.28, her best time this spring season. She enters the NESCAC meet ranked fifth in the event. Carly Andersen ’16 was also a runner-up, throwing the javelin 38.30m. In addition to her success in the javelin, Andersen also set a personal best in the hammer, throwing 36.72m for a seventh place finish.
Throwers have a difficult job in track: while all throwing events are grouped under one umbrella, they require different skill sets.
“Each week is different in terms of how I feel going into practices, so I focus on prioritizing the throws and technique I feel the least confident in before the weekend’s competition,” Anderson said. “Meets are unpredictable and it’s difficult to transition quickly from javelin to hammer to discus, but what makes throwing multiple events great is that there’s the chance to refocus and recollect yourself each time you step onto the runway or into the circle.”
Andersen makes up one half of the best javelin duo in the NESCAC; rookie Devon Player ’18 — who did not compete at Albany — is ranked second in the NESCAC behind Andersen, and the two teammates have made one another better.
“Devon is a great addition to the javelin squad and I think we’ve both benefitted from pushing and critiquing each other during practices and competitions,” Anderson said. “Constructive competition is key to throwing well and getting those person records — it’s too easy to focus on your attention inward during practices, so having a little teammate pressure, rivalry, and insight is crucial going into a meet environment.”
Robin Vincent ’18, who had a successful winter season, made her spring season debut by running the 1500m, finishing third with a time of 4:48.10, a personal best. Emma McGuirk ’15 was another third-place finisher in the triple jump, leaping to a distance of 10.49m.
Like the women, the men also had a second-place finish in the 400m. Rookie James Mulliken ’18 ran a personal best of 50.76 in his second attempt at the distance this year. Classmate Chony Aispuro ’18 also took second in the 1500m by running 4:02.74 and later doubled back in the 800m, running 2:02.62 for eighth place.
The 4x100m relay team of Sam Rives ’15, Mike Pallozzi ’18, Fritz Parker ’15 and Will Bain ’15 finished third and was the second collegiate team to finish, teaming up to run 43.02, its best time of the year.
In the field, Ian Riley ’16 was third in javelin, chucking the spear 51.19m.
Several distance runners, meanwhile, travelled to Princeton University on Friday, April 17 to compete in the Larry Ellis invitational.
Of the men competing at Princeton, Kevin Serrao ’18 impressed with a personal best finish of 1:54.46 in the 800m, just ahead of teammate Lukey Carpinello ’16 in 1:55.33. Kevin Wood ’15 ran 14:50.11 in the 5,000m for Middlebury.
On the women’s side, Alison Maxwell ’15 was the top Division-III finisher in the 1,500m in 4:34.51. Fellow All-American miler Sarah Guth ’15 trailed just behind Maxwell in 4:35.74. Katie Carlson ’15 also impressed in the 5,000m, running 17:44.98.
Maxwell’s performance at Princeton earned subsequently earned her NESCAC Runner of the Week honors. Her time in the 1,500m is among the 10 fastest in Division III this year.
The next meet for the teams is NESCAC Championships on April 25, hosted by Williams. Last year, the men finished a program-best second and the women finished third.
The men, in search of their first title, will face stiff competition from two-time defending champion Tufts and from Williams. The women’s teams from Williams and Tufts will also be the challengers to the Middlebury women, who last won in 2000. Williams has won every year since 2001 except for 2013 when Tufts won on their home track and the Ephs finished a distant fourth.
“We expect to be competitive in every event,” Parker said. “The seeds and marks coming in are irrelevant – all we care about is beating people. Whether it’s for first place or eighth, we expect to outperform our seeds and scrap our way up the scoreboard by meet’s end.
Parker suggested that the team’s balance will help them as they look to improve on last year’s finishes.
“”We have a much more balanced team than in years past,” Parker said. “For the first time since I’ve been here, we should be scoring points pretty equally between throws, jumps, sprints and distance. That sort of balance goes a long way in a meet as competitive as NESCACs.”
(04/15/15 4:02pm)
The track teams traveled to Williamstown, Mass., on Saturday, April 11, to compete in the Dick Farley Invitational hosted by Williams College on a blustery New England spring day. Though the meet was not scored, the Panthers raced against Williams for the second time in three weeks. Also participating were RPI, Southern Vermont, SUNY-Plattsburgh and SUNY-Oneonta. The women’s team won four events and the men came home with three event victories.
Rookie Natalie Cheung ’18 notched her first collegiate victory, winning the 200 meters with a time of 26.75, and was one of just two competitors to break the 27-second barrier. Teammate Alex Morris ’16 was third in the race with a quick time of 27.12.
Cheung’s Middlebury career has taken off since moving out of field houses and armories and on to outdoor tracks.
“It was difficult training for the indoor season because of the delay with the field house, and we could only practice at UVM once a week, limiting our amount of conditioning,” Cheung said. “Now that we have the indoor track, and finally some warm weather, the whole team has been improving. I definitely did not expect to be winning races as a freshman, so Saturday was really exciting for both my coach and me.”
Hannah Blackburn ’17 was a two-time victor on Saturday, winning the 100-meter hurdles by running a collegiate-best time of 15.21 and winning the long jump by leaping 5.18 meters. Jackie Kearney ’16 was second to Blackburn in the 100 hurdles by running 15.85.
The fourth victory came from Devon Player ’18, who won the javelin with a heave of 39.87 meters. Carly Andersen ’16 took second by throwing 37.86 meters. Like Cheung, the victory was the first of Player’s career as a Panther.
Other notable results included Halle Gustafson ’16 running personal bests in the 400 meters and 200 meters of 61.13 and 27.53 to finish second and sixth, respectively, Erzsie Nagy ’17 running 11:24.52 for third in her first attempt at the 3000-meter steeplechase, Lauren Bougioukas ’16 finishing second in the 800 meters in 2:21.42 and Paige Fernandez ’17 taking second in the 400-meter hurdles in 65.98.
On the men’s side, relays provided two of the three event victories. The 4x100-meter relay team of Sam Rives ’15, Jeremy Carter ’17, captain Fritz Parker ’15 and Will Bain ’15 cruised to victory with a time of 43.51. The 4x400-meter team closed out the day with a victorious time of 3:31.28.
Jake Fox ’15 was the lone individual winner of the day, finishing first in the 5000 meters in 15:17.14. Teammate Kevin Wood ’15 took second by running 15:21.34. Fox and Wood worked together for the entirety of the race, a smart tactic given the conditions.
“The race unraveled marvelously,” Fox said. “I had no time goals for the race, as the wind was fierce throughout the day. To my dismay and extreme pleasure, a kind Williams athlete with an evident propensity for altruism decided to break wind for Kevin Wood and me for approximately 9 laps. We passed him with 900m to go and accelerated into the last half mile. Kevin gave me the inside lane in the final 200m and utilizing the strength honed during my winter training with the vertical alpine gang (an up-and-coming trail-running/adventure team at Midd), I grunted like a feral pig and gunned it to the finish in 15:17. I couldn’t have done it without Kevin, as he pulled me through the last half mile.”
Jared Whitman ’17 jumped 4.27 meters in the pole vault — the same height as the winner — but took third place on misses. Ian Riley ’16 was second in the javelin with a toss of 50.30 meters.
The teams will be off to SUNY-Albany on Saturday, April 18 for their final meet before NESCAC Championships on April 25 back at Williams.
(04/08/15 11:01pm)
The track teams have started their seasons with a trio of scored meets: the Ross & Sharon Irwin Meet at Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU) in San Diego on Mar. 21, the PLNU Collegiate Invitational on Mar. 28 and the Middlebury Invitational on Apr. 3 — the first meet hosted by Middlebury in two years. Though team scores are unimportant at this point in the season, the teams were able to showcase their depth. The men garnered second, third and first place finishes, respectively, while the women took first, fourth and second.
Erzsie Nagy ’17 placed second in the 1500m at the Irwin meet with a time of 4:34.32, starting her outdoor season on a level on par with her anchor run as part of Middlebury’s All-American distance medley relay at the NCAA Indoor National meet. Nagy’s time was the best in NCAA’s Division III rankings for two weeks, and has since moved to the second-place spot.
In the men’s 1500m at the Irwin meet, Sam Klockenkemper ’17 and Sebastian Matt ’16 turned in impressive personal record times. Klockenkemper took third overall with a time of 3:54.69, and Matt finished right behind in fourth, clocking a 3:55.79.
The PLNU Invitational held later that week was particularly notable due to the Panthers’ strong conference and regional competition from New England powerhouse MIT, and NESCAC foes Williams and Colby.
Alex Nichols ’17 put his injury woes behind him in the 400m, finishing sixth with a time of 50.19 as the third NESCAC athlete across the line. Jake Wood ’15 placed third in the 400m hurdles, running 55.24 in his first try at the distance this season. Tyler Farrell ’18 finished sixth in the same event with a 56.54.
On the women’s side, several women put in impressive perfomances. Sasha Whittle ’17 finished second in the 5,000 meters with 19:01.64, and there was a trio of fourth-place efforts from Catie Skinner in the 3,000 meter steeplechase (11:58.8), Alex Morris ’16 in the 400 meters (59.57), and Nagy in the 800 (2:16.8).
Rookie Devin Player ’18 also impressed on her Panther outdoor debut. Player recorded a throw of 131’9” in the javelin to earn her fourth place. The throw is currently the best in the NESCAC and in the top 10 nationally. Carly Andersen ’16 followed with two top-five finished in the discus (120’8”) and the javelin (127’6”).
Back in Vermont on the afternoon of the Middlebury Invitational, the weather was reminiscent of Southern California. Despite tired legs from a week of hard training during spring break, the Panthers performed well.
Most notably, Ian Riley ’16 heaved the javelin 59.10m (193’11”) to win the meet — his first of the season — by 5.01m. Riley’s throw was a 4.24m personal best and places him as the fifth farthest javelin thrower in Middlebury’s history.
Though often overlooked in track and field meets, the javelin has historically been one of the Middlebury men’s strongest event: Bryan Black ’02 and Khristoph Becker ’06 won the javelin throw at NCAAs in 2002 and 2005, respectively, as the Panther men’s only NCAA national champions. Both won these titles under the tutelage of current Coach Luke Hotte. Riley’s throw has him sitting 12th in Division III, and would have ranked him 21st last year — just one spot out of qualifying for NCAAs.
“I think the biggest contributing factor was that my whole family came up for Easter weekend and decided they’d try to make the track meet as well. My two younger brothers always make things more fun, which keeps me relaxed. I also have an incredible throwing coach who does his very best to put up with me, and my ‘technique,’” Riley said.
Aside from Riley, Hannah Blackburn ’17 won the 100m hurdles, running a 15.37, and threw the shot put 10.72m to take third place. Blackburn is making the transition to becoming a heptathlete, and this is her first year throwing the shot. In Blackburn’s first try this year, she threw 8.91m but has turned a weak event into a strong one. She is currently ranked fifth in the NESCAC in the shot and third in the 100m hurdles.
On the men’s side, Taylor Shortsleeve ’15 was victorious in the 110 meter hurdles in a NESCAC season-best time of 15.20. Other events winners for the Panther men came from Mikey Pallozzi ’18 in the 200m, Nichols in the 400m, Kevin Serrao ’18 in the 800m, Chony Aispuro ’18 in the 1500m, Kevin Wood ’15 in the 5000m, and Jake Wood in the 400 hurdles and both relay teams. Overall, the Middlebury men won the meet handily, scoring 214 points to second-place Springfield’s 163.
Following the home meet, Riley, Shortsleeve and Player were all named NESCAC athletes of the week, with Middlebury taking three of the conference’s four weekly honors.
The teams will next travel to Williams to compete in the Dick Farley Invitational on Apr. 11 where they will race against Williams, SUNY-Oneonta, RPI, and Vassar. The ever-important NESCAC Championships will be held at Williams two weeks later on Apr. 25.
(03/11/15 1:43am)
The track teams were in action this past weekend in the final round of meets before the NCAA Championships. Several Panthers were making last-ditch efforts to qualify for the NCAA meet while others sat tight and hoped they were not bumped by other competitors around the country.
The top 15 men, top 17 women and top 12 relays in each gender that declare for the NCAA meet qualify. A group of runners was sent to the Tufts Final Qualifier on Friday, March 6 and another group elected to compete at ECAC Championships at the Armory in New York City on March 6 and 7.
After the dust settled, the men qualified one individual and the women qualified four individuals and one relay team for the NCAA meet.
As has been the case for the last few years, the Tufts Final Qualifier was a disappointment for the Middlebury competitors. Kevin Wood ’15 was third in the 5000m, running 14:57.17, which was not an improvement on his indexed best time of 14:46.42, a time leaving him ranked 23rd — ultimately not good enough to get into the Big Dance.
The men’s distance medley relay of Sam Cartwright ’16, Alex Nichols ’17, Luke Carpinello ’16 and Wilder Schaaf ’14.5 finished seventh by running 10:11.74; again, not an improvement on their indexed time of 10:06.09, ranking them 17th and leaving them on the outside looking in.
Down at the Armory, Hannah Blackburn ’17 broke her school record in the pentathlon by scoring 2931 points, good for seventh place in the ECAC.
“Every pentathlon is different, and this one started off poorly with high jump,” Blackburn said, “but then I actually learned how to run an 800, so that was good. Plus there were only a few of us at the meet, so it was also a great opportunity for bonding before the spring break trip.”
Kevin Serrao ’18 concluded his successful rookie campaign by running 1:55.79 in the 800m to finish 11th. Also in the 800m was Addis Fouche-Channer ’17, who ran 2:23.67 to finish 17th. Taylor Shortsleeve ’15 made his last indoor high jump as a Panther, clearing 1.92m (6’3.50”) for a 12th-place finish.
This year’s NCAA Championships will be held at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, NC, on March 13 and 14. Schaaf was the lone Middlebury male to qualify for the meet,and will be running the mile for the second year in a row. He is seeded eighth this year and looks to improve on his ninth place finish last year in Lincoln, NE.
For the women, Alison Maxwell ’15, Summer Spillane ’15 and Sarah Guth ’15 will all run the mile and are all seeded for All-American positions, entering the meet as the second, sixth and eighth seeds, respectively.
Adrian Walsh ’16 is seeded 13th in the 5000m, an event she finished ninth in last year while competing for the Hamilton Continentals. The distance medley relay squad of Maxwell, Alex Morris ’16, Paige Fernandez ’17 and Erzsie Nagy ’17 is seeded sixth. The Middlebury DMR finished seventh last year after a third place finish in 2013 and victories in 2011 and 2012.
(03/05/15 12:58am)
The track teams continued their postseasons on Feb. 27 and 28, competing in the Open New England Championships. “Opens,” as the meet is nicknamed, takes the top athletes across all NCAA divisions and brings them together to compete at Boston University’s Track and Tennis Center, home of one of the fastest banked 200m indoor tracks in the country. With fleet feet on their minds, the Panthers attacked the meet with vigor.
The meet began the afternoon of Feb. 27 with a selection of women’s events. Alex Morris ’16 set a season best in the 400m dash by running 58.56 seconds as the lone individual competitor for the women Friday afternoon. The distance medley relay team of Summer Spillane ’15, Morris, Paige Fernandez ’17, and Erzsie Nagy ’17 ran 11:48.44 for a third-place finish, but their time was marginally slower than the best Middlebury mark of the year set earlier in the month.
After the conclusion of the women’s events, the men took to the track Friday evening. Kevin Serrao ’18 set a new personal best in the 800m, running 1:54.13 to place 14th and was the top placing true freshman in the meet. Kevin Wood ’15 gathered All-New England honors in the 5000m run, finishing 25 laps of the track in 14:37.03, an all-time personal best for fifth place.
Like the women, the men also raced a distance medley relay team. Sam Cartwright ’16, Alex Nichols ’17, Luke Carpinello ’16 and Wilder Schaaf ’14.5 teamed up to run 9:57.95 to finish eigth. Their mark currently ranks them 13th in Division-III, a tough place to be in, as the top-12 declared marks qualify for NCAA Championships. In a later heat of the DMR, Amherst College set the all-time Division-III mark by running 9:48.61, breaking their 2011 team’s record of 9:49.11.
The teams returned to the track Saturday morning ready to impress with more fast times. As has been the theme for much of the season, the Middlebury milers again lit up the track. In the women’s race, Nagy, Spillane and Sarah Guth ’15 finished third, fourth and fifth by running 4:56.53, 4:57.11 and 4:57.48, respectively. Alison Maxwell ’15, who ran 4:53.63 the previous week, had an off day but still took ninth place by running 5:06.13. In the men’s mile, Cartwright shook off the previous night’s DMR to run 4:14.36 and Sam Klockenkemper ’17 set a new personal best by running 4:15.56.
In the 3000m run, Adrian Walsh ’16 ran 10:10.69 for 17th place. Walsh’s time was one-hundredth of a second off of tying Maxwell’s school record mark in the event. Brian Rich ’17 set a new personal best by running 8:37.98, also finishing 17th.
The Panthers will get one last chance at qualifying for NCAA Championships this weekend, competing either at the Tufts Final Qualifying Meet on March 6 or the ECAC Championships on March 6 and 7 at the Armory in New York City. The top-15 men and top-17 women in individual events qualify for NCAAs and the top-12 relays for each gender qualify. At the time of publication, the men currently would send Schaaf in the mile (ranked 12th) while the DMR is on the outside looking in at 13th. The women would send Maxwell, Nagy and Spillane in the mile (ranked second, 11th and 14th), Walsh in the 5000m (ranked 13th) and a DMR team (ranked fourth). Some of the milers, though, may opt to run the DMR fresh rather than doubling up events. The last weekend of the season always proves to be crazy with a wide swath of last chance meets contested across the country.
(02/25/15 3:04pm)
The track teams began their postseasons this past weekend, competing in the New England Division III Championships. The men and women’s meets are contested at different facilities; this year, both teams were in Massachusetts’ Pioneer Valley, with the men competing at Springfield College while the women were hosted by Smith College. The men’s team finished in 17th place with 14 points and the women took home 7th place by scoring 47 points. MIT was crowned team champion for both genders.
The mile run was the highlight for the men. Sam Cartwright ’16 secured all-New England honors with a fifth place finish in a time of 4:19.57. Wilder Schaaf ’14.5 was not far behind, crossing the line in seventh with 4:21.65. In the 5000m run, Kevin Wood ’15 finished sixth by running 15:08.
On the infield, Taylor Shortsleeve ’15 missed making the final in the 60m hurdles by 0.01 seconds, completing the race in 8.58 seconds. Jared Whitman ’17 set an indoor personal best in the pole vault by clearing 4.05m (13’3.5”), good enough for a five-way tie for 11th. Teammate Conor Simons ’16 was also a part of that tie by clearing the same height. In the shot put, Danny Plunkett ’16 scored a point with an 8th place finish by launching the shot 14.03m (46’0.5”).
The women kicked off their meet on Friday, Feb. 20, by placing two athletes in the top 8 in the pentathlon. Hannah Blackburn ’17 broke Maddie Pronovost’s ’17 school record by a mere four points, scoring 2901 points for a 5th place finish. Pronovost was only slightly off her previous best of 2897 points, this time scoring 2870 points to finish 7th.
The next day, Saturday, Feb. 21, was time for the Middlebury distance women to shine. The women were successful in the mile; Alison Maxwell ’15 finished runner-up to Maryann Gong of MIT by running 4:53.63 to Gong’s 4:51.12. Their times are currently the two fastest in Division III. Summer Spillane ’15 finished third by running 4:59.62, which ranks her ninth in Division III after track indexing. Erzsie Nagy ’17 and Sarah Guth ’15 also scored in the mile, taking sixth and seventh in times of 5:02.48 and 5:02.82, respectively. All told, the mile accounted for 19 of the team’s 47 points.
“The two of us went out in front, but I think the rest of the pack was right behind us at the beginning,” Maxwell said. “I think that throughout the race we kept pulling farther and farther away from them. I was hoping to out kick her in the last lap, but that’s when she finally shook me off and gained that two seconds on me.”
The quartet of milers was not finished; several hours later, the four teamed up to race the 4x800m relay and took 2nd place to Wesleyan with a time of 9:30.21.
“It was a pretty fun team, because since we had all had great races already, we weren’t feeling too much pressure for the relay,” Maxwell said. “ But at the same time, we were in the slow heat because we were entered with No Time and still wanted to place overall, so we were kind of chasing the imagined leaders of the fast heat, which ran after us.”
Elsewhere on the track, Adrian Walsh ’16 was runner-up in the 5000m by running 17:24, a time currently ranking her 11th in Division III. Paige Fernandez ’17 set a personal best in the 600m run by over four seconds, running 1:37.88 to finish fifth. The 4x400 team of Fernandez, Kate McCluskey ’18, Perri Silverhart ’16.5 and Alex Morris ’16 crossed the line in 4:05.13, good enough for seventh.
Next on the schedule is the Open New England Championships at Boston University on Feb. 27 and 28. “Opens” takes the top athletes from all NCAA divisions in New England and is always an opportunity to run fast: last year, all of the teams’ NCAA qualifying marks were run at this meet.
(02/19/15 12:28am)
In spite of the pending blizzard, men’s and women’s track and field traveled to Boston on Feb. 13-14 to compete in a pair of meets: the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational and the Gordon Kelly Invitational hosted by MIT. “Valentine,” as the BU meet is colloquially known, is one of the largest meets in the country with over 3,500 athletes toeing the line. Several Olympic medalists have raced in the meet. As such, it is one of the best opportunities for Middlebury athletes to run fast.
The women raced at BU on Friday, Feb. 13 and put up some spooky-good times. Alex Morris ’16 continued to drop time in the 400m, running 59.10 seconds, her first time under one minute this season. In the mile, Erzsie Nagy ’17 ran a swift time of 5:02.95. Two heats later, Summer Spillane ’15 and Robin Vincent ’18 took the top two spots in their section, finishing with times of 5:03.72 and 5:04.34 respectively. Sarah Guth ’15 also ran a strong race, completing the distance in 5:07.22. Many hours later, running after 10:30pm, Adrian Walsh ’16 raced the 5000m, finishing the 25-lap race in 17:32.53.
After a long day on Friday, Nagy, Vincent, and Paige Fernandez ’17 were joined by Alison Maxwell ’15 in the 4000m distance medley relay (DMR) on Saturday morning. The DMR consists of 1200m (Maxwell), 400m (Fernandez), 800m (Vincent) and 1600m (Nagy) legs, in that order. The quartet raced to a time of 11:44.92 — marginally faster than the All-American team the Panthers fielded last year, the third fastest time in school history, and the fastest Division III time in the country in the meet by over 16 seconds.
Nagy said of her weekend, “The double wasn’t bad. I did feel Friday’s race a bit in my legs during the last half of my leg in the DMR. I had no idea what my pace was, and it was nice to know that it felt faster than the open mile because I really was running faster, not just because I was tired … I am so impressed by the mid-distance/distance runners who ran this weekend! We have only done speed work in the pool, and most people still had amazing races! Running an 11:44 certainly wasn’t the plan, but it’s nice to start fresh and get a benchmark that exceeded all of our expectations.”
The mile race highlighted the men’s day. Wilder Schaaf ’14.5 set a new school record with a time of 4:09.89, a time that ranks him seventh in Division III according to NCAA track indexing. Sam Cartwright ’16 and Sam Klockenkemper ’17 ran two heats after Schaaf and both set indoor personal bests, clocking times of 4:13.58 and 4:16.86 respectively.
Schaaf’s race was by far his best of the season.
“It always takes me a couple races to figure my swag out,” Schaaf said. “So I never really know how fast I can go until I get into a good heat. I felt like I could run a lot faster than I had before, but I was a little surprised at getting under 4:10.”
In the 800m, Kevin Serrao ’18 and Luke Carpinello ’16 raced to fast times in the same heat. Serrao took second in the section in 1:55.59 and Carpinello was not far behind, finishing in 1:56.74, an indoor personal best.
At the lower-key MIT meet, Taylor Shortsleeve ’15 broke his school record in the high jump by a centimeter, leaping 1.95m (6 feet 4.75 inches).
The teams start the post-season this weekend, competing in the Division III New England Championships on Feb. 21. The women will race at MIT while the men will race at Springfield.
(02/11/15 10:19pm)
The track teams bracketed their Feb Breaks with meets, competing in the Tufts Stampede & Multi on Saturday, Jan. 31 and the Dartmouth Indoor Classic on Saturday, Feb. 7. The teams originally planned to host a meet in the new Virtue Field House on Jan. 31, but construction delays led to a last minute change of plans and a trip to Medford. Despite these delays, the teams have continued to perform well, breaking school records and recording individual victories in competitive fields.
At Tufts, the women were led by Maddie Pronovost ’17, who took fifth in the pentathlon with a school record score of 2897. The events in the pentathlon include the 60m hurdles, the high jump, the shotput, the long jump, and the 800m, and an athlete’s mark in each event earns a certain number of points. The highest total score wins.
“Knowing that I have good events and bad events takes pressure off me, because I know that if I do not do well in one event, I can make up for it in another event,” Pronovost said of the pentathlon. “This makes competing much more fun, because there are so many events to test your athleticism in.”
Alex Morris ’16 continued her comeback, winning the 600m in a time of 1:41.21 with her teammates, Paige Fernandez ’17 and Kate McCluskey ’18, not far behind, taking third and fourth with times of 1:42.18 and 1:43.30, respectively. In the mile, Erzsie Nagy ’17 led a Panther stampede, winning the event in 5:12.22 while leading Robin Vincent ’18 to a second place finish in 5:13.90 and Sarah Guth ’15 to third just two hundredths behind Vincent. Katie Carlson ’15 joined the winners club, taking the 5000m in 18:03, more than 14 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor. The final winner of the day was Hannah Blackburn ’17, who leaped 16’7.75’’ in the long jump, a half-foot farther than her nearest competition.
Sam Cartwright ’16 paced the men at Tufts, winning the mile in 4:20.70. Sam Klockenkemper ’17 was right behind to complete a Middlebury 1-2 finish, racing to a time of 4:21.06. Nick Blelloch ’16 recorded his first collegiate victory by taking the 60m hurdles. Blelloch ran a personal best of 9.12 seconds in the trials to be the third fastest qualifier and smashed that best by running 8.95 seconds in the final, edging out two Tufts runners. Other strong performances were turned in by Will Bain ’15, who took third in the 60m by running 7.20 and Kevin Wood ’15, whose 5000m time of 14:53 was good for third as well.
A week later, the teams convened at Leverone Field House at Dartmouth College. The women’s day was highlighted by the 3000m. Alison Maxwell ’15 won the event in a school record time of 10:10. Adrian Walsh ’16 — making her track debut as a Panther — finished third in 10:16 and was followed closely by Vincent and Nagy, taking fourth and fifth in times of 10:17.88 and 10:17.91. Rookie Brianna Bisson ’18 ran her best race of the year to finish fifth in the 1000m, recording a personal record of 3:05.16. Summer Spillane ’15 made her indoor debut by taking third place in the mile with a time of 5:16.
On the men’s side, Cartwright took home his second victory in as many weeks, this time winning the 1000m in 2:31.53, the second fastest time in Middlebury history.
“I’m not really used to running the 1000,” Cartwright said. “It was my second time ever running it, so I basically hung back and hoped for a fast race.
Kevin Serrao ’18 continued his strong rookie year by taking third in Cartwright’s race with a time of 2:32.08. Wilder Schaaf ’14.5 — who missed the previous week’s race due to his Feb graduation — was the second place finisher in the 3000m, finishing in 8:42. Luke Carpinello ’16 was second in the 800m by running 1:58.75, finishing just a hundredth of a second ahead of a Williams competitor.
The teams will travel to Boston this week to compete in the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational on Feb. 13 and 14 for one of the biggest meets indoor meets in the country. The combination of BU’s blazing fast banked 200m track — nicknamed the Launching Pad for the fast times it has produced.
(01/21/15 2:47pm)
On Friday, Jan. 16, the track teams traveled to New York City to run in the Gotham Cup at the historic Armory track. The meet featured top NCAA Division-I teams and professional athletes, giving the Panthers a chance to square off against some of the best athletes from around the country.
On the women’s side, Alex Morris ’16 made her season debut in the 400-meter dash after studying abroad in the fall in Uruguay, racing to a time of 61.20 seconds. Right behind her was first-year Kate McCluskey ’18, who finished in 61.27 seconds.
Morris, a two-time All-American and individual NCAA qualifier in the 400 meters, commented on her first race back.
“I didn’t really have many expectations for this race,” she said. “For me, it was a way to start getting back to the level I was last year and almost try to race myself back into shape. It was helpful not just physically, but mentally as well because now I know where I am and can only move forward.”
“Practice has definitely been a reality check,” Morris said. “I tried to keep up with the workouts as much as possible when I was abroad, but life often got in the way. There’s not a feeling I love more though than really training hard and feeling like I’m making progress. I’m most excited to be back and see where the rest of the season goes.”
In other sprinting events, Paige Fernandez ’17 and Perri Silverhart ’16 both competed in the 500 meters, finishing in 1:19.86 and 1:22.23 respectively. Gigi Miller ’18 was Middlebury’s top finisher in the women’s 60 meters, crossing the line in 8.65 seconds.
A small contingent of distance runners made their season debuts in New York as well. Most notably, Sasha Whittle ’17 competed in the mile, running 5:23.99 while winning her heat by more than 10 seconds. In the field, Maddie Pronovost ’17 had her second good meet in a row, jumping 4 feet 11 inches in the high jump and a personal record 16 feet 10.75 inches in the long jump.
For the men, Will Bain ’15 led the sprinters in the 60-meter dash, running 7.19 seconds — slightly off his mark of 7.15 from the previous week. Captain Fritz Parker ’15 cut more than a second off his 400-meter time from the previous week, finishing the dastardly distance in 51.58 seconds.
The men also had distance runners make their debuts in New York. Wilder Schaaf ’14.5 opened his season in the mile with a run of 4:23.29. Schaaf, an NCAA qualifier in the event with his personal best of 4:10.98, started his season last year by running 4:30, so his improved result is indicative of more fast times to come later in the season. Accompanying Schaaf in the mile was Panther assistant coach Jack Davies ’13, who took a fourth-place finish in 4:14.08, continuing his trend of never losing a race to Schaaf. Luke Carpinello ’16 just broke the two-minute mark in the 800 meters, running 1:59.73.
The teams were originally scheduled to host Virtue Field House’s inaugural meet on Friday, Jan. 23, but construction delays have led to the meet’s cancellation. The teams will take the weekend off from competition before hosting the Middlebury Invitational on Jan. 31, which will take the place of the cancelled meet as the inaugural competition in the new indoor track facility.
(01/14/15 4:21pm)
The Middlebury track teams opened their seasons on Sunday, Jan. 11 at the 46th running of the Dartmouth Relays. Despite its name, the Dartmouth Relays are not a relay-only meet, and the teams contested the normal compliment of events.
Due to the meet’s proximity to the recently completed cross country season, almost all of the Middlebury distance runners sat out the meet. For the sprinters and field event athletes, though, the meet served as a nice beginning to the season and a good test of current fitness against strong competition from all NCAA divisions.
Senior Taylor Shortsleeve ’15 highlighted the men’s team performances. Shortsleeve broke the school record by 1 centimeter in the high jump, soaring to a height of 1.94 meters (6 feet, 4 and ¼ inches), netting him a tie for sixth place.
Shortsleeve also produced the almost unheard of accomplishment of tying a previous personal best twice in one day. In the preliminary round of the 60 meters hurdles — his first attempt at the distance since 2012 — Shortsleeve ran 8.58 seconds, which equaled his personal record set in March of that year. Later, in the finals, he managed to run the same time, picking up another sixth-place finish.
Shortsleeve was not the only athlete to have a successful first meet. Will Bain ’15 lowered his personal best in the 60 meters to 7.15 seconds for a 14th-place finish and Alex Nichols ’17 finished sixth in the 400 meters, running 50.67 seconds.
“Sunday’s meet was a great opportunity for us to measure our fitness to start the season,” said captain Fritz Parker ’15. “Our training has been erratic because of the field house construction, but I was impressed with the team’s fitness nonetheless.”
On the women’s side, Hannah Blackburn ’17 stepped off the volleyball court and right back onto the track, continuing the success of her previous spring’s season without missing a beat. Blackburn made the finals in the 60-meter hurdles, finishing sixth with a time of 9.67 seconds. Her preliminary time of 9.57 seconds was only 0.02 seconds off her personal best. In the long jump, Blackburn leaped 5.27 meters (17 feet, 3 and ½ inches), an indoor personal best that netted her fourth place.
Paige Fernandez ’17 turned in her best 400-meter run, completing the distance in 61.67 seconds to finish 15th. Rookie Kate McCluskey ’18 was not far behind, running 61.99 seconds for 17th place.
The Panthers quickly return to action, traveling to the famed Armory track in Washington Heights, New York for the Gotham Cup on Friday, Jan. 16. Following the trip to New York is the most exciting day in recent history for the program with the inaugural meet in Virtue Field House on Friday, Jan. 23.
(12/03/14 10:06pm)
NESCAC finish: 2nd (men), 3rd (women)
Men's captains: Ola Fadairo ’15, Fritz Parker ’15, Chris Veasey ’15, Kevin Wood ’15.
Women's captains: Sarah Guth ’15, Alison Maxwell ’15, Emma Mcguirk ’15
With the imminent completion of the new field house, 2015 promises to be the most memorable year in recent history for the men’s and women’s indoor track & field teams. As there is no NESCAC champion crowned for the indoor season, the teams use the winter months as preparation for the spring season.
The women will be led by their returning All-American distance medley relay team of Alison Maxwell ’15, Jackie Kearney ’16, Alex Morris ’16 and Erzsie Nagy ’17. The relay team finished seventh in the NCAA meet last year and Morris also competed as an individual in the 400m dash. Other strong performers will be Summer Spillane ’15, who garnered All-American honors in cross country this year, in the distance races and Hannah Blackburn ’17 in the long jump and pentathalon.
The men will be highlighted by returning NCAA championship qualifiers Fritz Parker ’15 and Alex Nichols ’17 in the 4x400m relay and Wilder Schaaf ’14.5 in the mile. Kevin Wood ’15 is fresh off a successful cross country season in which he too finished as an All-American and will look for success in the 3000m and 5000m races. Josh Claxton ’18 stands to make an impact as a first-year in the 400m.
The teams will open their seasons on Saturday, Jan. 11 at the Dartmouth Relays. The new field house is set to host its first meet Friday, Jan. 23 — the first indoor meet to be contested at Middlebury in well over a decade. With a focus more on individual performances rather than team competition, the Panthers will try to qualify as many athletes as possible for post-season regional meets as well as the NCAA championships to set themselves up for strong showings outdoors.
(11/19/14 9:57pm)
On Saturday Nov. 15, the Panther cross country teams competed in the NCAA New England regional meet hosted by Williams College, with both teams finishing high enough to qualify for the upcoming NCAA championships.
In the regional, the top two teams and top seven non-qualifying individuals earned invitations to the NCAA National Championship on Nov. 22 in Wilmington, Ohio. Additionally, 16 at-large bids were awarded across the country for top non-auto qualifying teams. Coming off a NESCAC Championship meet in which the men placed third and the women were victorious, the Panthers looked to punch their tickets to Ohio.
The men started the day with a fifth-place team finish with 136 points, meaning they had to wait 24 hours until the reveal of the at-large bids to know if they had secured a place at the national meet.
Colby continued its strong season by winning the meet with 63 points. Amherst, which took fourth at NESCACs, took a surprise second-place finish with 69 points — a point ahead of third-place MIT. Williams, which entered the meet ranked fourth nationally, had an off day and finished fourth in the region with 85 points.
History was on the side of these New England teams, however, as the selection committee traditionally selects five or six teams from the region. This year was no different, as the Middlebury men were awarded a bid and will compete as a team at the national championship for the fifth consecutive year.
As has been the case throughout the season, the men were lead by Wilder Schaaf ’14.5 and Kevin Wood ’15. Schaaf took home a 10th-place finish — the best of his career — completing the eight-kilometer course in 25:40. Wood was just two seconds off Schaaf’s pace, finishing 14th in 25:42. Sebastian Matt ’16 was the third Panther to finish, taking a 25th-place finish in 26:04. Jake Fox ’15 and Sam Cartwright ’16 were final two scorers with 37th and 50th-place finishes, respectively.
The women took to the course after the men with high expectations. In a closely contested race, the Panthers took second to qualify automatically for the national meet with 65 points while MIT won the race with 40 points.
Alison Maxwell ’15 followed up her NESCAC victory with a second-place finish, circling the six-kilometer course in 21:48 — nine seconds behind regional champion Sarah Quinn of MIT.
Summer Spillane ’15 crossed the line just behind Maxwell, securing fourth place in 21:54. Adrian Walsh ’16, making her New England region debut, took 12th in 22:17 and Katie Carlson ’15.5 scored 16 points with a time of 22:27. Erzsie Nagy ’17 rounded out the top five with a 31st-place finish in 22:47.
The women’s race played out in an unusual faction.
“We had three of our top girls leading the pack initially,” Spillane said. “MIT’s top four or five swarmed around us to lead the race a good 50 meters in front of us. Alison and I motioned to other girls to stay calm and slowly move up to them. They held strong until mile two and then started breaking up. By mile three Alison and I had closed in on their pack and passed all but their top runner. However, it was definitely a tactic we were not expecting, and it worked for them yesterday.”
Both teams will compete on Nov. 22 at the NCAA Championships in Wilmington, OH.
The men posted a program-best finish of seventh last year while the women took third. The women, who won most recently won a national title in 2010, are looking to get back to their winning ways.
“We are hungry for the national title, but also aware that we can’t over look strong teams like MIT or Johns Hopkins,” Spillane said. “We realize we need to stay focused and aggressive the whole way through. In big races it is only seconds that separate the All-Americans from the rest of the pack.”
(11/13/14 12:38am)
On Saturday Nov. 8, the cross country teams were in Westfield, Mass. running in the ECAC Championships. Both squads sat out their top runners so they would be well rested for the NCAA regional meet next week, allowing younger or less-seasoned athletes to gain championship experience. The men finished sixth out of 43 teams while the women took home a third-place finish in a field of 48 teams.
The men threw their younger athletes right to the fire: five first-years raced and were accompanied by Derek Satterfield ’15 in his last cross country race as a Panther.
Ascencion Aispuro ’18 led the charge for Middlebury, completing the eight-kilometer course in 26:14, good for 19th place. Just ten seconds behind Aispuro was classmate Matt Gillis ‘18, finishing in 25th. Peter Elkind ’18 and Tim McGovern ’18 worked together throughout the race, finishing in 26:48 and 26:50, respectively. Satterfield was next across the line, taking 74th out of 303 participants in 27:17.
“I just tried to go out and enjoy it,” Satterfield said of his final race. “It was a fast, fun race. It went out pretty quick and since the course was flat it just kind of kept on being quick.”
Alex Carlson ’18 rounded out the Panther squad, finishing in 27:55.
Satterfield commented on the experience of competing alongside so many younger runners.
“It’s encouraging to see that the first-years are continuing this team’s hallowed tradition,” he said. “Their team is going to be the cat’s pajamas for the next three years.”
After a disappointing day at the NESCAC Championships the previous week, Erzsie Nagy ’17 came back with a vengeance, taking a home a 10th-place finish to lead the Panther women. Nagy completed the six-kilometer course in 22:41.
“I went out about 30 seconds slower [for the first mile] than at NESCACs,” Nagy said. “I had so much fun and was really able to enjoy the race and appreciate cross country.”
Finishing close behind Nagy were Caroline Guiot ’16 and Emma DeCamp ’17, taking 12th and 13th-place finishes with times of 22:48 and 22:53, respectively.
Sasha Whittle ’17 and Liesel Robbins ’18 finished in close succession just moments later, taking 24th and 26th with times of 23:19 and 23:25 to round out the scoring places for the Panthers. Alyssa Taylor ’17 and Robin Vincent ’18 took 37th and 91st as the final two Middlebury runners.
Next up, the teams will travel to Williamstown, Mass. on Nov. 15 to race in the NCAA New England Region championships.
Results at the regional meet determine what teams and individuals will move to compete in the NCAA Championships, hosted by Wilmington College in Wilmington, Ohio on Nov. 22. The top two teams at the regional meet as well as the top seven individual finishers not on a qualifying team automatically punch their tickets to Ohio. Additionally, 16 teams across the country that did not secure a top-two finish at their regional meet will be awarded at-large qualifying bids.
The men have qualified for NCAAs every year since 2010 and the women have qualified every year since 1996 and have only missed qualifying in two of the 21 seasons the NESCAC has allowed team participation at NCAA Championship events.
While the Panther women look like shoe-ins for a 19th consecutive NCAA appearance, the men will face stiff competition from Williams, Colby and M.I.T. for the New England region’s bids to the meet.
(11/05/14 6:51pm)
On Saturday Nov. 1, the Middlebury cross country teams hosted the NESCAC championship meet for the first time since 2003. On a blustery, cold day, the men took home a third-place finish while the women, led by by individual number-one racer Alison Maxwell ’15, were crowned NESCAC champions for the second year in a row, tallying the eleventh team victory in program history.
Williams’s Colin Cotton turned in a dominating performance to secure his individual victory, smashing the 13-year-old course record of 25:35 with a time of 24:56.
Colby sophomore David Chelimo, who finished as runner up to Cotton, led the race through the first several miles. Chelimo was followed closely behind by Cotton, Williams junior Bijan Mazaheri and Middlebury’s Kevin Wood ’15. During the second loop of the race, Cotton opened up a sizable lead, passing Chelimo and dropping the chase pack as he went on to win by a sizeable 16-second margin.
Chelimo finished in 25:12, a second ahead of Mazaheri’s third-place time of 25:13. Williams senior Aldis Inde took fourth in a time 25:17, effectively sealing the meet for the Ephs. Wood turned in a strong finish to take fifth in 25:22. Wilder Schaaf ’14.5 was the second Panther to cross the line with a ninth-place finish in 25:30.
Including Schaaf, the top nine runners in the men’s field were all under the previous course record time.
In the team battle, Williams scored 39 points to repeat as champions. Their 39 points were the lowest total scored in the men’s race since 2006 when the Ephs scored 30 points for their victory.
Colby took second with 76 points, their highest finish since 1993 when they tied for first with Wesleyan. Colby has undergone a rapid ascend in the ranks of NESCAC cross country: every year from 2004 to 2011, the Mules finished either last or second to last. The 2012 squad finished 9th of 11 and last year’s team finished fifth.
Middlebury took a close third with 80 points after finishing second the previous two years.
After the dust had settled from the men’s race, the women toed the line in the debut of Middlebury’s six-kilometer championship course. As predicted, the race was the latest addition to the storied history of battles between Middlebury and Williams.
Early in the race, the Panthers looked dominant: Alison Maxwell ’15, Summer Spillane ’15 and Adrian Walsh ’16, joined by Tufts junior Audrey Gould, constituted the lead pack, without a Williams runner in sight. The pack of Ephs, though, were running together and working through the race in a conservative fashion. As the race progressed, the lead pack strung out with Maxwell opening up a sizable lead and the Ephs creeping up in the field.
“Our strategy, as usual, was to stay in a tight pack or two for the first two or three miles of the race,” Maxwell said. “We definitely accomplished this for the first mile or so, but then I think the pace caused us to break up a little earlier than we wanted to.”
At the finish, Maxwell took home the individual title — the first Panther to do so since 2001 — in a time of 22:16.
“I was hoping to keep up with the front pack and out-sprint as many people as I could at the finish,” Maxwell said. “I definitely did not expect to be leading the race for as long as I was. It was a position I had never been in before, but I think it was good for me to run out of my comfort zone.”
Behind Maxwell, Spillane sprinted past Gould in the final 100 meters of the race to take second in 22:33. Gould took third and Williams sophomore Emma Zehner was the first Eph across in the line in fourth. Walsh maintained her strong position established early in the race to finish sixth in 22:45.
After Walsh came two more Ephs before Katie Carlson ’15.5 was the 10th woman and fourth Panther across the line in 22:54.
Because a team’s score in cross country is determined by the places of the top five runners, Middlebury needed a fifth finisher to cap the team scoring before too many Williams athletes crossed the line. Olivia Artaiz ’16 was the Panther who came through next, earning a 19th-place finish to solidify Middlebury’s solid top five.
When the points were tallied, the Panthers took first with 38 points to Williams’s 47.
Next on the docket for the Panthers is the ECAC Championship on Nov. 8 at Stanley Park in Westfield, MA.
(10/30/14 4:27am)
This Saturday, Nov. 1, the NESCAC cross county championship returns to Middlebury for the first time since 2003. Unlike other sports, cross country does not tabulate regular-season records or use a tournament to determine the NESCAC champion; the title is instead awarded based on this one meet featuring the eleven member institutions.
Middlebury’s course presents a number of challenges for the runners, primarily its variety of hills. Many teams will also be seeing the course for the first time this weekend — Colby and Hamilton are the only teams besides Middlebury with runners who have raced the course after competing in this year’s edition of the Aldrich Invitational. Saturday’s forecast also calls for a true Vermont autumn day with near freezing temperatures, rain and snow possible.
As has been written in this space, the Middlebury teams have had successful seasons and are sure to contend for NESCAC team titles.
The men won their one and only championship four years ago at Hamilton. As defending champions, the women would tie Williams for most titles in the history of the conference with a victory. Michael Schmidt ’12 was the school’s most recent individual champion on either team, taking home the title in 2011 at Amherst. The women, on the other hand, have not had an individual victory since Jessica Johnston ’01 took the crown in 2000.
On the men’s side, the team competition is wide open. Williams, Colby and Middlebury are all ranked in the top 10 nationally and Amherst is not far behind at 16. This year, Colby won the Purple Valley Classic in September by eight points over Williams, who then came back with a strong performance a week later at the Paul Short Invitational against strong Division-I competition. Middlebury, who struggled at Purple Valley, came on in mid-October as the top Division-III team at the NEICAAA Championships and the top team overall at the Albany Invitational.
The race for the individual title promises to be as intriguing as the team competition. Colby sophomore David Chelimo, the winner of Purple Valley, has the ability to run away from the field, but he has not raced since Sept. 27. Williams senior Colin Cotton finished three seconds behind Chelimo at Purple Valley and ran 24:10 at Paul Short, the fastest eight kilometers clocked by a NESCAC runner this year. Teammate Bijan Mazaheri was 3rd at Purple Valley and ran 24:29 at Paul Short, giving Williams a formidable duo up front.
From Middlebury, Wilder Schaaf ’14.5 is fresh off a blazing 24:46 for seventh at NEICAAA Championships in Boston, a performance that garnered him national Runner of the Week honors. Teammate Kevin Wood ’15 has also run well this year and will be in the front group. Other contenders include Amherst freshman Mohamed Hussein and Colby senior Peter Hale.
For the women, the team battle is likely to fall to either Middlebury or Williams. The Panthers and Ephs have either won or tied each other for the title in 23 of the 31 years the meet has been run, and this year promises to be no different.
Middlebury is ranked third nationally after taking a second-place finish at NEICAAA Championships and a victory at Albany. Williams is currently ranked seventh in the nation and recently won the Little Three Championships. Middlebury got the best of Williams last year with 29 points to 51, but Williams came back two weeks later at regionals, 44-57, and took second at NCAAs to the Panthers’ third.
Individually, Middlebury boasts the top two returners from the NESCAC last year in Alison Maxwell ’15 and Erzsie Nagy ’17. Maxwell garnered national accolades for her 18:00 performance at NEICAAAs and has run strong all season while Nagy, who battled an injury early in the season, has been improving with each race.
The front group will also hold Tufts junior Audrey Gould, who beat Maxwell at Purple Valley but fell behind at NEICAAAs, Amherst sophomore Savanna Gornisiewicz and a bevy of other Panthers and Ephs.
The team title is likely to be won by the packs of Middlebury and Williams runners: both teams like to run as groups, and could sacrifice an individual title if working with their teammates could guarantee a team championship.
The men’s race starts at noon and is followed by the women at 1:00 p.m., with awards following shortly thereafter. Races begin and finish on the rugby field behind the squash center.
(10/22/14 8:47pm)
On Saturday, Oct. 11, the cross country teams raced at historic Franklin Park in Boston, MA, competing in the NEICAAA Championships. The meet — colloquially known as Open New Englands — invites all New England cross country teams from all divisions to participate. Against this stiff competition, the women placed second as a team while the men finished eighth. Additionally, Wilder Schaaf ’14.5 and Alison Maxwell ’15 were both recognized as men’s and women’s USTFCCCA National Athletes of the Week and NESCAC Performer of the Week for their performances.
The varsity women scored 162 points in their second place finish, 101 points behind winner University of New Hampshire and nine points ahead of third place rival MIT.
The varsity women were paced by Maxwell, who finished 11th overall in a time of 18:00 for 5 kilometers and was the first Division-III woman across the line. Just 12 seconds behind Maxwell was Summer Spillane ’15, notching a 24th place finish as the third Division-III athlete. Behind Spillane were Adrian Walsh ’16, Katie Carlson ’15 and Addis Fouche-Channer ’17 in 36th, 45th and 50th place, respectively. Fouche-Channer — the team’s fifth and final scoring runner -- finished the race in 18:31, giving the Panthers a slim 31-second scoring spread.
The time between a team’s first finisher and their fifth finisher is often indicative of team strength and depth: the narrower the margin, the lower the team score will be. With an athlete of the week leading the charge, the women are fitted with a strong lead runner and a solid pack not far behind.
Giving further credence to the depth of this year’s team was the performance of the junior varsity squad; these women also grabbed a second place finish with 71 points, again behind UNH, who won the race with 50 points. This squad was fronted by Erzsie Nagy ’17, who finished fifth, with a time of 18:50, Caroline Guiot ’16, who finished seventh in 18:53, and Emma DeCamp ’17, who finished ninth in 19:00.
These runners demonstrated the power of pack running and will provide depth should an injury occur to a scoring athlete in the critical November meets.
Like the women, the men were top-placing Division-III team, taking home eighth with 291 points. The meet was won by Providence College with 72 points, eking out a victory over Brown on a tiebreaker, 3-2.
Not to be outdone by his counterpart on the women’s side, Schaaf finished the 8 km course seventh overall with a time of 24:46. Schaaf’s time is the fastest in Middlebury history at Franklin Park and he is the highest placing male Panther ever at Open New Englands.
“Before Opens, all of the courses we raced on were pretty hilly,” Schaaf said. “I think having a flatter course with good competition was what I needed to get the ball rolling.”
Like Maxwell, Schaaf was the first Division-III finisher at the meet. Not far behind Schaaf was Kevin Wood ’15, who took home a 15th-place finish in a time of 24:56 as the second Division-III runner to cross the line.
Unlike the women, the men suffered from a wide margin between runners: the third Panther to cross the line was Sebastian Matt ’16, running a time of 25:33 (37 seconds behind Wood) for 73rd. Sam Klockenkemper ’17 — in only his second race back from injury — was fourth on the team with an 81st-place finish in 25:37 and Jake Fox ’15 was the final scoring Panther in 115th, running 25:53.
A week later, on Oct. 18, both the men and women’s teams took home titles at the Albany Invite. Maxwell and Schaaf led the way again, finishing sixth and third, respectively.
“We took it as an opportunity to try to close the gap between the top seven runners and were successful at that,” Schaaf said. “It also gave Sebastian Matt a chance to study the back of my singlet from up close which I think he was happy about.”
“Albany was a tough race for a lot of people because we’re feeling the effects of a hard training cycle,” Maxwell said. “But we still ran great as a team, competing against other teams we almost never see, which is fun.”
The teams will take the weekend of Oct. 25th off before hosting the NESCAC Championships on Nov. 1. The women are poised to repeat as NESCAC Champions while the men look to take their first title since 2010.
“We definitely want to win NESCACs and Regionals, if only to prove to ourselves that we are capable of it,” Maxwell said. “Building confidence before our potential NCAA showing is key.”
(10/08/14 10:27pm)
On Saturday, Oct. 4, the Middlebury cross country teams visited Vermont Technical College to race in the Vermont State Meet. The men won their sixth consecutive state championship while the women continued their streak of victories that has lasted longer than anyone currently associated with the program can remember.
The women secured their victory by scoring 21 points, topping second-place St. Michael’s by 20 points. Olivia Artaiz ’16 was the top Middlebury finisher, taking second place by completing the five kilometer course in 20:27, less than 10 seconds off of Saint Michael’s Chloe Boutelle’s winning time.
Behind Artaiz came the usual Middlebury pack: Sarah Guth ’15, Robin Vincent ’18 and Erzsie Nagy ’17 all finished within four seconds of one another, less than 20 seconds behind Artaiz while finishing in the third, fourth and fifth spots overall. Rookie Liesel Robbins ’18 was the last scoring Panther, taking seventh place in 20:50. Nagy, the NESCAC’s top returning runner, made her season debut after battling some early season injuries.
Assistant coach Jack Davies commented on Nagy’s return.
“It was exciting because she is an extremely talented athlete who is going to be key to our success in November,” Davies said.
Conditions, course difficulty and the general lack of competition did not lend themselves to fast times, but cross country is about place, not time.
“While the atmosphere of the state meet is certainly more relaxed than some of our other meets, we take a lot of pride in being the best Vermont team across all three NCAA Divisions, and we certainly raced to win,” Davies said. “It was a really tough, hilly course that featured a cow pasture, cornfield, veterans graveyard, and an apple orchard, and it was cold, with driving rain, which added to the course’s difficulty, but we like to think our training in Middlebury prepares us for anything.”
On the men’s side, Sam Klockenkemper ’17 took first place overall to lead Middlebury to the team victory. The Panthers – whose 24 points put them 28 points ahead of second-place Lyndon State – also received scoring contributions from Charlie Jones ’15, Peter Elkind ’18, Matt Gillis ’18 and Luke Carpinello ’16.
“It was great to get the win,” Klockenkemper said. “It was actually my first race back after dealing with a knee injury, and it was a perfectly low-key environment to do it. Also, I won a quart of maple syrup, so that’s pretty neat.”
Overall Middlebury runners took six of the top 10 places in the race, including four of the top six.
Both the men’s and women’s teams were able to rest several of their top runners at the State Championship meet in hopes of recording top finishes at this weekend’s Open New England Championship. That meet – which will pit the Panthers against top Division-I, II and III competitors from around the region – will be held on Saturday, Oct. 11 in Franklin Park in Boston.
“We are feeling very strong and are excited to race against a bigger and more competitive field this coming week in Boston,” Artaiz said. “We haven’t really got the chance to go all out in a race and we are all are ready to.”
At last year’s meet, both the men’s and women’s sides finished fifth overall in very competitive fields.
(10/01/14 8:41pm)
The Panther cross country teams traveled to Williamstown, Mass. on Saturday, Sept. 27 to race in the Purple Valley Classic hosted by Williams College. Purple Valley is traditionally the first big race of the season for New England Division-III cross country teams and also serves as a preview of the NCAA D-III New England Regional Championship in November, which will be run on the same course.
Amid strong competition, the women finished with 65 points — second to only MIT’s 36 points — while the men took home a sixth-place finish with 152 points.
The day started with men toeing the line, running the same eight-kilometer distance they will race all season. The Colby Mules were the surprise winners with 55 points after finishing second to Middlebury in the previous week’s Aldrich Invitational. The Mules were bolstered by the return of their top two runners — David Chelimo and Peter Hale — both of whom did not run at Aldrich but turned in strong races at Purple Valley. Chelimo won the race in a time of 25:42 and Hale placed seventh with a time of 26:30.
As has been the trend thus far this season, Kevin Wood ’15 was the first Panther to across the line, logging an eighth-place finish with a time of 26:31. Wilder Schaaf ’14.5 finished the course in 26:45 for 15th place. Behind Schaaf came Sebastian Matt ’16 in 44th, Brian Rich ’17 in 51st and Sam Cartwright ’16 in 52nd.
After the men, the women took to the course, bumping back up to the six-kilometer race distance that is standard in championship races after running five kilometers the previous week.
Alison Maxwell ’15 finished fourth with a time of 22:44, just 21 seconds behind the winner Sarah Quinn of MIT. Adrian Walsh ’16 was the second finisher for the Panthers, crossing the line with a time of 23:00, good for 11th place overall. Finishing within 25 seconds of Walsh were Addis Fouche-Channer ’17 in 14th, Summer Spillane ’15 in 16th, and Olivia Artaiz ’16 in 20th to round out the scoring places.
Walsh described how the warm temperatures altered the team’s strategy at Williams.
“It was a pretty warm day on Saturday which definitely affected everyone’s strategy in the race,” Walsh said. “As the race progressed, the packs seemed to break up slightly but everyone overall worked really well together and helped each other to the finish.”
The next competition for the Panthers is the Vermont State Meet, hosted by Vermont Technical College, on Saturday Oct. 4. The Panthers have won the State Meet every year they have entered in recent memory and plan on continuing their dominance this season.
After that, the teams will travel to historic Franklin Park in Boston to compete in the NEICAAA Championships, one of the oldest cross country meets in the United States.
Walsh expressed optimism as the middle of the season approaches.
“We placed second overall which is a great starting point and it’s exciting to think about what the team is capable of on a really good day,” Walsh said.