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(05/07/14 2:51pm)
On Friday and Saturday May 2 and 3, a portion of the track and field team headed south to Springfield, MA, with the sun shining for the first meet in some weeks, to compete in this year’s Division-III New England outdoor championships.
The Panthers sent over forty athletes to the meet, and emerged from the three day affair with a number of All-New England honors, including one all-region title and a new school record.
On the women’s side, Alison Maxwell ’15 once again led the Panthers when she claimed the victory in the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:36.84. Teammate Katherine Tercek ’16 also earned all-region honors in the same event when she took seventh in 4:42.82.
Other all-region honorees included Alex Morris ’16 with a sixth place finish of 58.38 in the 400 meters, Katie Rominger ’14 with a second place finish of 17:39.00 in the 5,000 meters, and Jackie Kearney ‘16 with a sixth place finish of 1:05.08 in the 400 hurdles. Summer Spillane ’15 took fifth in the 3,000 meter steeplechase with a time of 10:59.38, while Abigail Pohl ’17 was seventh in 11:22.81.
In the field, Maddie Pronovost ’17 finished seventh in the heptathlon with a total of 3,387 points and Laura Strom ’14.5 took sixth in the high jump with her mark of 5’ 4.25”. Lauren Pincus ’14 finished in fourth in the javelin with a toss of 131’ 7”, while Hannah Blackburn ’17 took third in the long jump when she posted a mark of 18’ 2.5”, a jump that broke the standing Middlebury outdoor record in the event.
“My goal for the day was to get a [personal record] and get closer to qualifying for NCAA’s,” Blackburn said. “When I had my good jump, I definitely freaked out a bit; I was really excited. Right now I’m ranked 25th in the [country] for long jump and the top 22 go to the NCAA championship meet, so my goal for the next two weekends is to jump farther.”
On the men’s side, Jason McCallum ’14 finished in second place in the pole vault with a mark of 15’ 3”. In other field event action, Taylor Shortsleeve ’15 cleared the high jump bar at 6’4” to take eighth place.
On the track, Jake Wood ’15 and Kevin Chu ’14 both took home all-region honors in the 400 hurdles with their sixth and eighth place finishes, posting times of 54.88 and 56.27, respectively. Wilder Schaaf ’14.5 managed a second place finish in the 1,500 meters when he crossed the line in a time of 3:54.56. Teammate Sam Cartwright ’16 was behind him in fifth, running 3:56.40, while Sam Klockenkemper ’17 finished in eighth with a time of 3:57.55.
Sebastian Matt ’16 also posted an eighth place finish in the 5,000 with his time of 15:40.10. Bryan Holtzman ’14 led the sprinters as he crossed the line in 11.06 seconds in the 100 meters, good for a sixth place finish, while recently crowned NESCAC Rookie of the Year Alex Nichols ’17 tied for a seventh place finish in the 200 with a time of 22.40.
“It was almost 70 degrees at the meet and I think we were all just really happy to be able to compete in the warmth for once,” Blackburn said of the day as a whole. “Everyone had a really competitive meet and there were a lot of season bests.”
Although the primary focus was on individual performance after a team push last weekend at the NESCAC championship, the Panther squads managed to stack up well against the other D-III teams in the region. The men’s team took eleventh in a field of 32 teams, while the women finished in fourth out of 33.
Head Coach Martin Beatty and Assistant Coaches Nicole Wilkerson, Kurt Fischer, Bill Edson and Luke Hotte continued their success after claiming the NESCAC Men’s Track & Field Coaching Staff of the Year.
“We didn’t necessarily try to do well in this meet as a team,” Beatty said. “It’s more about the individual icing on the cake. We didn’t even run the relays, so we didn’t attack this meet like we did NESCACs. That’s our emotional high point, and we don’t want to burn out the athletes.”
The championship meet season continues this weekend with Open New England’s at Westfield State. About fifteen Panther athletes are expected to compete alongside DI and DII competition. Those who do will return to action on May 9 in the final push to qualify for a spot at NCAAs.
(04/30/14 2:59pm)
On Saturday, April 26, the Track and Field teams competed in the focal event of their outdoor season, traveling to Waterville, Maine to contend for the NESCAC championship hosted by Colby. On a cold, rainy day, the men recorded their highest team finish in the meet’s history – finishing second behind only Tufts – while the women were third.
On the men’s side, the Panthers finished the day with five event victories. In the field, Jason McCallum ’14 took home the title in the pole vault with his mark of 15’ 1”, while teammate Taylor Shortsleeve ’15 won the high jump when he posted a mark of 6’2”.
On the track, Jake Wood ’15 earned a decisive victory in the 400-meter hurdles in a time of 53.39 while first-year Alex Nichols ’17 earned a win in the 400 meter dash, edging out teammate Peter Hetzler ’14 to take home the victory in his first NESCAC meet with a time of 48.66.
The 4x400-meter relay team of Nichols, Bryan Holtzman ’14, Fritz Parker ’15 and Peter Hetzler ’14 secured a win for the Panthers when they edged Tufts by .04 seconds at the line, posting a time of 3:20.89.
“The relay was neck-in-neck for the entire of the race,” Holtzman said. “We led for two legs and our anchor Peter got the baton about two steps behind Tufts. [He] ran a beautiful leg and was able to pass the Tufts anchor in the final twenty meters of the race to seal the victory.”
Holtzman rounded out his day with a second-place finish in the 200 meters and a fourth-place finish in the 100 meters, while teaming up with Kevin Chu ’14, Parker and Adam Markun ’17 to finish second in the 4x100-meter relay.
Other top finishes for the men included Chu’s runner-up performance in the 110-meter hurdles, where he crossed the line in a time of 15.09. Deklan Robinson ’16 posted a pair of third-place finishes, tossing the javelin 173’11” and also clearing 6’2” in the high jump. Wilder Schaaf ’14.5 finished third in the 1,500 meters while Shortsleeve rounded out his day by taking third in the 110-meter hurdles.
The men finished the day with a team point total of 166.5, good for second behind Tufts, who took home the crown with 178.9 points. In addition to their record overall finish, the Panthers far surpassed their previous record point total of 140, good for third at last year’s meet.
“We entered the meet with our sights set on victory,” Holtzman said. “Going into the meet, neither Tufts nor us were favored to win. It was a toss-up. We did everything we could, even beating our projected point total. Tufts happened to have an even better day than we did. This was the most fun and interesting meet I had been a part of from a team perspective.”
On the women’s side, the Panthers emerged with a victory in the 4x800-meter relay, in which Addis Fouche-Channer ’17, Katherine Tercek ’16, Olivia Artaiz ’16 and Summer Spillane ’15 posted a team effort of 9:30.22, edging Williams by less than a second.
“Crossing the finish line in first place was such an exciting and unexpected end to the day,” Spillane said. “All of us had put a majority of our energy towards our individual events, so we were pretty exhausted stepping onto the start line for the relay. When I heard my teammates’ loud cheers as I was rounding out the last 200 meters I knew I had to dig deep and kick.”
Alison Maxwell ’15 led the Panthers by posting a pair of second-place finishes, running 4:37.12 for 1,500 meters and 2:15.44 in the 800 meters. Katie Rominger ’14 took third in the 5,000 meters in 17:37.59, while Spillane finished third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
Despite finishing seventh, the 4x100-meter relay team of Chelsea Montello ’16, Sara Sobolewski ‘14, Madi Goodstein ‘16 and Lauren Henry ‘16 managed to set a new school record with a time of 49.36.
In the field, Laura Strom ’14.5 took second in the high jump based on number of attempts, matching the winning mark when she cleared the bar at 5’3.75”. Lauren Pincus ’14 also turned in a runner-up performance with her toss of 135’11” in the javelin. First-year Hannah Blackburn managed a pair of third-place finishes, with a mark of 17’ 6.75” in the long jump and 35’ 8.5” in the triple.
The women finished in third place with 109.5 points, trailing behind Williams’ 179 and Tufts’ 126.
“Although the girls finished in third place, so many of us set new personal best records,” Spillane said. “We were all too busy celebrating everyone’s individual accomplishments to care too much about how we stacked up against the other teams. The overall result, although not what we ultimately wanted, stands as motivation for NESCACs next year.”
“It was a great day,” Head Coach Martin Beatty said. “Our goal is always to win, of course, because everyone wants to win NESCACs. But we put forth our best effort, and the athletes gave all that they could. It was a great result. We had a lot of personal records, and even though it was a cold, blustery Maine day, the team was so determined, and they all came together to pull for one another.”
The team has around 35 eligible athletes who have hit the required times and marks for this weekend’s Division-III New England Championship, and those competing will return to action on Thursday at Springfield.
“We begin to operate on more of an individual level now,” Beatty said of the weeks to come. “We’re trying to get that icing on the cake for each person who is able to qualify far into championship meets.”
(04/24/14 3:39am)
The Middlebury track and field teams finished up their last weekend of non-championship competition at the University of Albany Spring Classic on Saturday, April 19, competing in a field of mostly Division-I schools in a non-scoring meet that also featured elite international competitors.
On the women’s side, Alison Maxwell ’15 continued her season’s success with a second place showing in the 800 meters, crossing the line in time of 2:16.09.
“I was really surprised and excited with my 800, which is the first one I have run all year,” Maxwell said. “My time is one I’ve been hoping to run for a while, and it felt really good to finally make it happen. Mostly, though, it felt great to get some speed in my legs, which should benefit me in the coming weeks.”
Other Panther women with high finishes on the day included Paige Fernandez ’17 in the 400 meter hurdles, where she took sixth place in a time of 1:06.87. Emily Singer ’14 also posted a sixth-place finish with a time of 18:45.69 in the 5,000 meters, while teammate Katie Rominger ’14 took fourth in the 1,500 in 4:49.00. In the field, Hannah Blackburn ’17 posted a mark of 16’11.5” in the long jump, good for fifth place in the event. Carly Andersen ’16 took third in the javelin with a toss of 121’11”.
“The whole team is really excited for NESCACs of course,” Maxwell said. “After getting second last year, the girl’s team is hungry for the win, and we have a definite chance of getting it. I can’t wait to see how it plays out.”
On the men’s side, the Panther squad managed to post a number of top finishes. Bryan Holtzman ’14 edged up the Panther’s all-time list with his 10.79 performance in the 100 meters, the third fastest time in school history. Jake Wood ’15 continued his collection of high finishes in the 400-meter hurdles when he took fifth in the event with a time of 56.57. Sam Cartwright ’16 and Sam Craft ’14 also took fifth place in their respective events, with Cartwright posting a time of 4:02.20 in the 1,500 and Craft crossing the line in 1:58.47 in the 800. In the 110-meter hurdles, Kevin Chu ’14 took second place in a time of 14.75, while teammate Taylor Shortsleeve ’15 finished behind him in third with a time of 15.40.
“The 110 hurdle race went well,” Chu said. “It was the first time all year that I have felt a good rhythm in the hurdles, just in time for the NESCAC championship. My time ranks me eleventh right now in Division-III. The goal is to stay in the top twenty to earn a trip to the NCAA championships next month. I made it there last year qualifying seventeenth overall, and I’d like to improve on that. The race over the weekend is nothing more than a step in the right direction, and there is still a lot of work left.”
“[Albany] as a whole went well for the team,” Chu said of the meet. “Many of our athletes did not compete in their primary event. We used the meet as a tune-up for the conference championship. The most important thing is we came through the meet healthy. NESCACs is the big meet for us every year because the focus is on overall team performance rather than individual accolades. Check back with us next week and there will be plenty of stories of my teammates rising to the occasion and performing well beyond expectations. It happens every year. This is the strongest team I have been a part in my four years here. I’m confident that my teammates will back up my words.”
Head Coach Martin Beatty was encouraged by the weekend’s results as the team heads into the NESCAC Championships on Saturday.
“I am excited not just from this weekend, but overall,” Beatty said. “It was nice that we had sunny weather to work with, but it was another windy day so that took away from most people’s performances. But having that wind makes us tougher, and it’s good to get through it. NESCACs is our big build-up for the season, and I’m rearing and ready to get to Colby and compete.”
While the rest of the team was in Albany, two Panther individuals traveled to Princeton to run in the Larry Ellis Invitational on April 18th and 19th. Sam Klockenkemper ’17 took 67th in the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:00.52, while Kevin Wood ’15 took 34th in the 5,000 in a competitive 14:37.15.
“The race at Princeton is a unique opportunity to run at a very competitive level and put up a fast time before championship season,” Wood said. “Few races have such a deep, talented pool of runners, which can make a huge difference in distance running. The race was pretty fun. It was a crowded heat with 30 entries, but everyone was fast, so traffic wasn’t bad. I got to the rail early on and chilled in the back of the pack drafting. My plan was just to hang on as long as I could to a pack going 69 or 70 [seconds] per lap. It worked out pretty well.”
The Panthers will return to action at the NESCAC Championships on Saturday, April 26 at Colby.
(04/16/14 2:56pm)
The track and field team spent Saturday, April 12 in West Point, NY where they competed against five other teams in the Army Six Way meet, going up against a mix of schools that included four Division-I programs. The Panther squad as a whole took home five event victories and completed the day with a handful of other top finishes on both the men’s and women’s sides.
The men’s side saw three victories on the day, including a win by the 4x400 meter relay team of Alex Nichols ’17, Bryan Holtzman ’14, Fritz Parker ’15 and Peter Hetzler ’14. They look to continue the success achieved during indoor season when they qualified for the NCAA finals. The team brought home a decisive victory, besting the field by over four seconds as they crossed the finish line in a time of 3:19.09.
“The relay was pretty tight after the first two legs,” Nichols said. “But when Fritz got the baton he put a lot of distance on the only team that had kept up with us to that point. The ultimate goal in that race was to run a time that would seed us well for NESCACs. We would have liked to run half a second or so faster than we did, but we’re pretty content with our time considering we ran it without having someone in front of us to chase.”
Nichols also brought home the win in the open 400 meters, where he ran a time of 49.28.
“I think I got out a little slow, but I was able to make up a little time in the second half of the race, and I ended up running my fastest college time so far,” Nichols said. “I’m pretty happy with how well it felt, and I think I’m set up pretty nicely for NESCACs in two weeks, which is of course when I would like to run my fastest time.”
The other men’s victory of the day came from Wilder Schaaf ’14.5, who tied for the win in the 1500 with a time of 3:54.23. Other top finishers for the Panthers included Nate Sans ’14, who took second in the 5,000 meters in 15:14.73 and Hetzler, who finished in second behind Nichols with a time of 49.62 for the 400 meters.
Holtzman added a third-place finish to his day with a 22.55 performance in the 200 meters, and Taylor Shortsleeve ’15 also notched a top-three spot when he tied for third in the high jump with a mark of 6’ 2.75”.
On the women’s side, Alison Maxwell ’15 brought home the victory for the Panthers when she won the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:37.96.
“My 1,500 was a lot of fun, but at a meet like this, a non-championship meet, a win doesn’t mean anything more than a little morale boost,” Maxwell said. “I am still hoping to drop another four seconds this season so I can show up some of my times from last year.”
Lauren Pincus ’14 continued her dominant season with a win in the javelin, posting a toss of 132’ 9.25”. Other Panther women to propel themselves to a top finish included Katie Rominger ’14 in the 5k, where she ran 18:10.44. Teammate Lottie Hedden ’14 ran 18:27.14, a finish good for third. Hannah Blackburn ’17 continued her successful first-year season with a second place finish in the long jump, in which she posted a mark of 17’11”.
“Army was a great opportunity for all of us to see some really high quality competition for the first time this season, and it manifested itself in a number of outstanding lifetime [personal records],” Maxwell said. “But NESCACs is right around the corner, so no matter what, everyone has at least one more stellar performance in them.”
The Panthers will return to action when they compete this weekend at the Albany Invitational before traveling to Colby on Saturday, April 26 for the conference championship meet.
(04/09/14 2:48pm)
Like several other spring sports teams, the Middlebury track team began its outdoor schedule over Spring Break with two meets at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, CA, competing against a variety of West Coast schools in a pair of meets. Upon returning to the Northeast, the Panthers continued their season on Saturday, April 5 in a dual meet at Springfield, handing in a decisive victory on both the men’s and women’s sides.
The first meet at Point Loma, the Ross and Sharon Irwin Meet, on March 22, brought an exciting start to the season when Lauren Pincus ’14 broke the school record in the javelin, a mark that had stood for thirteen years. Pincus’s toss of 140’ 9”, good for a second place finish in the event, beat out the existing mark of 139’ 11”.
“I took last year off to recover from elbow reconstructive surgery, so my main goal for the season was to successfully return to competing for the team,” Pincus said of her season. “I was surprised and thrilled when I realized I had broken the school record. It was the ideal way to start the season. It is extremely difficult to obtain those sorts of long distance throws in cold and windy Vermont, so it was important to me to take advantage of the warm California weather and get a distance that would hopefully qualify me for NCAAs. I’m excited to keep improving throughout the season, and hopefully break my own record a few more times.”
Other standouts for the Panthers included the trio of top-five finishes in the 1500 meters from Erzsie Nagy ’17, Alison Maxwell ’15 and Summer Spillane ’15, who took second, third and fourth, respectively.
For the men, Wilder Schaaf ’14.5 took home the victory in the 1500 meters, where he ran a time of 3:54.78, while Jake Wood ’15 took second in the 400 hurdles in 55.87 and Kevin Chu ’14 took fourth in the 110 hurdles in 15.48.
The following Saturday, Mar. 29, the Panthers were back in action at the Point Loma Invitational. On the men’s side, Schaaf once again turned in a solid performance, taking second in the 800 meters in a time of 1:55.53, Wood saw another successful weekend in the 400 hurdles when he crossed the line in first with a time of 55.21.
In the field events, Jason McCallum ’14 took home the victory in the pole vault with his mark of 14’ 11”, also taking second on the track with a time of 10.98 in the 100 meters.
Kevin Wood ’15 also produced a decisive victory on a day that brought many high finishes for the Panther squad, winning the 5,000 meters with a time of 14:54.16.
On the women’s side, Hannah Blackburn ’17 finished with a trio of top five results on the day, taking third in both the long and triple jumps and fourth in the 100 hurdles. Spillane took second in the 3000-meter steeplechase with a time of 11:15.82, with Panther teammates behind her in third, fourth and fifth.
Not to be outdone, Pincus followed up her record-breaking performance with a win in the javelin, posting a mark of 135’ 7”.
“I think that there were a lot of really strong performances at the California meets,” Pincus said of both meets at Point Loma. “It is a very tough week training-wise, with practice twice a day, and difficult workouts. The combination of the travel and the hard training makes these meets especially challenging, so I was impressed with the team’s distances, heights and times.”
On Saturday April 5, the Panthers took to the track and field at Springfield in an entirely different climate, battling a cold and windy afternoon as they went head-to-head with the host Pride. Despite the less-than-optimal conditions at Springfield, several competitors on both the men’s and women’s side turned in fast times, big throws and stellar jump marks.
On the women’s side, the day brought an impressive 17 victories in 19 contested events. Blackburn continued her season with three victories on the day, running 15.43 for the 100 hurdles and jumping 35’ 1.75” in the triple jump and 17’5” in long jump.
“I was really happy with my [personal best mark] in the long jump at Point Loma, but my favorite result was this past weekend’s 100m hurdles race,” Blackburn said. “The hurdles is my favorite event and that was the first time it felt really natural and fluid this season.”
Other victories included Maxwell’s performance in the 5,000 meters where she ran a time of 17:52.20 and Lauren Henry’s ’16 12.92 performance in the 100-meter dash. All in all, the women beat the Pride with a final total of 125-70.
The Panther men were victorious in 11 events, totaling a final score of 100 compared to Springfield’s 85. Event winners included McCallum in the pole vault with a mark of 15’ 1”, veteran Bryan Holtzman ’14 in the 100 meters in 11.03, first-year sprint standout Alex Nichols ’17 in the 200 meters in 22.84 and Sam Klockenkemper ’17 in the steeplechase in 10:18. Jake Wood ’15 continued his dominance in the 400-meter hurdles, crossing the finish line first in a time of 55.91.
“The team performed really well overall at Springfield,” Blackburn said. “It was a hard day because of the cold and the wind, but we still managed to compete at a high level.”
In the eyes of Head Coach Martin Beatty, one of the highlights from the meet at Springfield was his team’s performance in relay events, in which they defeated the host Pride in both races on both the men’s and women’s side.
“I like the way the team is looking,” head coach Martin Beatty said of the start to the season. “Both the men’s team and the women’s team are strong, and it’s exciting to be back outside.”
The Panthers return to action on Saturday, April 12 at West Point, where they will match up with strong Division-I and III competition. After a final tuneup the following weekend at the University of Albany, Middlebury will travel to Colby on April 26 for the NESCAC championships, the focal point of the Panthers’ regular season.
For those who qualify, the season then includes a slew of championship meets, culminating in the NCAA championships on the final weekend of May.
(03/19/14 3:02pm)
The indoor track and field team sent 10 Panther athletes to the NCAA Championship meet on March 14 and 15 at the Devaney Center in Lincoln, Nebraska, where over the course of the two-day event the squad competed in three individual events and two relays.
The men’s 4x400 meter relay team consisting of Fritz Parker ’15, Bryan Holtzman ’14, Alex Nichols ’17 and Peter Hetzler ’14 took to the track in the first heat of a three section final after qualifying for the 12th spot in the event. From the gun, the Panthers were gapped by their opponents and had to work to make up ground over the course of the race, finally finishing in fourth in their section and 12th in the overall event with a time of 3:19.88.
Holtzman ran the second leg for the Panthers.
“I wasn’t able to hunt down other competitors like I had in weeks past because of the quality of competition,” Holtzman said. “That’s part of being at NCAAs. If we had been with the rest of our heat, we definitely would have run faster.”
“It takes a lot just to get into the NCAA meet, and I was honored to be a part of it and to go with such a great group of teammates,” Parker said.
Holtzman believes that the 4x400 team has more to give.
“I think we have more in us and can achieve higher,” he said. “It will only make us more hungry for the spring season.”
On the women’s side, the distance medley relay team of Alison Maxwell ’15, Jackie Kearney ’16, Alex Morris ’16 and Erzsie Nagy ’17 entered their race as the sixth seed. Maxwell got the team off to a good start when she ran a smooth opening 1200-meter leg, handing the baton off at the back of the lead pack. Kearney kept the squad in the race as the group began to string out during the 400-meter leg, handing off to Morris for the 800-meter portion of the relay where she kept the team in contention for an All-American finish. Nagy received the baton in 10th place at the beginning of her 1600-meter anchor leg, pulling the team up to a seventh place finish when she crossed the line with the clock reading 11:44.95.
“The Williams anchor, Kaleigh Kenny, was out in front of me chasing down the lead pack of seven runners,” Nagy said. “I wanted to catch up to Kaleigh and let her pull me through and up to the lead group. It worked out well, since a few runners fell off the pack so I moved up into seventh.”
The team’s finish marked the fifth year in a row that Middlebury has earned All-American honors in the women’s DMR event.
“Our team was so completely thrilled,” Nagy said. “We finished All-American, which was what we all were hoping for. Even though we were seeded sixth and finished seventh, we dropped three seconds from our best time.”
Of the three Panther individuals to compete in the meet, Laura Strom ’14.5 was the only field athlete, entering the high jump with the top mark in the country. On the day of competition, Strom finished with a ‘No Height’ when she was unable to clear the bar in the first round of jumps.
On the track, Morris also took to the line to compete in the 400, where she took 17th in the opening heats in a time of 58.36 and did not qualify for the finals in the event.
Wilder Schaaf ’14.5 was the lone male individual to compete for the Panther squad with his performance in the mile. Schaaf managed to qualify out of the preliminary heats on Friday, making it into the finals based on time. He finished in ninth place overall on Saturday, running a time of 4:10.99 and narrowly missing All-American status by .11 seconds in a race where all but one member of the field crossed the finish line as a tight pack.
With the final chapter of indoor season closed, the team as a whole turns to outdoor action for the spring, with competition beginning over spring break at Point Loma Nazarene in southern California.
(03/05/14 11:47pm)
The Middlebury track and field team was back at Boston University on Feb. 28 and Mar. 1, where this year’s Open New England championship brought together the region’s best athletes across Divisions I, II and III. The Panthers had seven individuals and three relay teams compete over the course of the two day event, and brought home three new school records.
On the women’s side, Alex Morris ’16 continued her indoor success when she broke her own school record in the 400 meters by over half a second. Morris posted a time of 56.97, just sneaking under the 57-second mark and finished in ninth place overall.
“I was incredibly nervous about running this 400. Going into the race I was ranked 17th in the country and you must be in the top 17 to qualify for nationals, so I knew that I needed to pull out a significantly better time to move myself up the rankings,” Morris said. “When I saw 56.97 flash on the screen I couldn’t believe it, I’ve never been so excited in my life. I really benefited from a strong Division-I runner in my heat that I was able to chase and she really pushed me right to line.”
Morris is now the 13th-ranked athlete in the nation in the 400 meters.
“After the race, I didn’t even feel tired and it was so humbling how excited all my teammates and coaches were for me,” she said. “It’s moments like that that really make all the pain worth it”
Alison Maxwell ’15 also put forth a strong showing in the mile, taking 12th place in a time of 5:02.35. Maxwell, along with Morris, Erzsie Nagy ’17 and Jackie Kearney ’16, was also a member of the women’s distance medley relay team, which took sixth place in a time of 11:47.43 to earn All-New England honors and solidify a sixth place national ranking.
“We were hoping to go under 12 minutes,” Nagy said. “During my leg, my goal was to get as many people as I could. I could hear people shouting splits around me and I thought they were a little slow so I was shocked. That is why I love running the 1600 in the DMR; the field is already spread out so you just have to go after people. I was just trying to run as fast as possible so the team could go to nationals.”
In the field events, senior captain Laura Strom ’14.5 posted a mark of 5’ 7”, continuing her successful season and earning All-New England laurels with a fourth place finish in the high jump. Hannah Blackburn ’17 took 21st in the long jump with a mark of 16’ 7”.
On the men’s side, the 4x400-meter team of Fritz Parker ’15, Bryan Holtzman ’14, Alex Nichols ’17 and Peter Hetzler ’14 managed to bring home another Middlebury school record, running a time of 3:16.82 to break the previous mark of 3:18.61, set back in 2005. That time ranks them 10th in the nation with one week remaining to qualify for nationals.
“I was very surprised,” Hetzler said. “I knew we had the talent on the team, but I didn’t know we had it to that extent. We had known we could run a fast relay for a couple of years now. It is so fulfilling to finally put one together as a senior.”
The other relay for the day, the distance medley team of Nichols, Sam Cartwright ’16, Luke Carpinello ’16, and Wilder Schaaf ’14.5 took fifth place with a time of 10:06.19.
“As a whole, I think we were a little disappointed with how the DMR went,” Schaaf said. “We basically ran the same time we did earlier in the season and we were hoping for more improvement.”
The remaining Panther men were Jason McCallum ’14, who took 12th in the pole vault with a mark of 14’ 9.5”, and Holtzman, who took 14th in the 200 meters with a time of 22.24, bringing home the third and final school record of the day.
With several individuals and relays sitting – for the moment – in contention for this season’s NCAA championships, a small group of athletes will travel to Boston on Thursday, March 6, to try to bolster their times at the Tufts Last Chance Meet. The team will then remain in Boston for Saturday’s ECAC championships.
“The 4x400 relay is going to Tufts because it’s a flat track,” Holtzman said. “The NCAA has come up with some conversions to help standardize times, and we think that we have a better chance of running a faster time on a flat track. If we don’t run as fast as we would like, then we will run on a banked track on Saturday at ECACs.”
Those who can make the final NCAA cut will finish their indoor seasons at the national championship meet at the University of Nebraska on March 14 and 15.
(02/26/14 9:04pm)
The indoor track team competed in its first championship meet of the season this past Saturday, Feb. 22, when it travelled south to Massachusetts to attend the Division III New England Championships. The day brought a split in location for the Panther squad, as the men headed to MIT and the women to Springfield, where each group emerged from the day with a number of All-New England honors, including one champion.
On the women’s side, the team brought home six all-region honors, which are awarded to those athletes that finish in the top eight places in his or her event. Hannah Blackburn ’17 received accolades in her first season, taking seventh place in the triple jump with a mark of 34’ 10.25”. Erzsie Nagy ’17 also continued her successful first year of college competition with her sixth-place finish in the 800 meters, crossing the line in a time of 2:21.30. Alison Maxwell ’15 ran the mile in 5:08.44, good for a fifth-place finish, and Laura Strom ’14.5 high-jumped 5’3” inches, landing her a fourth-place finish in the high jump. The distance medley relay team, consisting of Catie Skinner ’17, Abigail Pohl ’17, Addis Fouche-Channer ’17, and KatieRominger ’14, managed to gain honors as well, taking eighth place with a time 12:50.87.
Perhaps the most exciting performance of the day came when Alex Morris ’16 won the 400 meters, earning herself the title of New England champion in the event by crossing the line in a time of 58.49, defeating the field by over half a second.
“I was over the moon winning the 400, especially since it was pretty unexpected,” Morris said. “The field was a lot more competitive than it was last year and I knew that it was going to be incredibly difficult. The other girls pushed me all throughout the race and I didn’t really believe I could win it until I overtook the final girl in the last 50 meters. It wasn’t my fastest time, but sometimes you just have to race the race.”
Overall, the women finished in eighth place in the field of 28 teams, scoring a total of 25 points on the day.
“I think the women’s team really did itself proud,” Morris said. “It wasn’t a very fast track so some times were not what we were hoping they’d be, but we held our own against teams that have a lot more manpower. Not having an indoor track has been frustrating at times, but I think next year we’re going to come back even stronger at this meet.”
On the men’s side, the Panthers brought home five All-New England honors, with three individuals and two relay teams managing top-eight finishes. Alex Nichols ’17 continued his solid first-year season with a seventh-place finish in the 400 meters, crossing the line in a time of 51.05. Brandon Cushman ’16 furthered the team’s middle distance success with a 1:24.32 performance in the 600 meters, running himself into seventh place. Wilder Schaaf ’14.5 also solidified his all-region honors with his sixth-place finish in the mile, posting an impressive time of 4:16.85. The men’s distance medley relay team, consisting of Mark Perry ’16, Alex Ugorji ’17, Sam Klockenkemper ’17 and Sebastian Matt ’16 just made the cut by finishing in eighth in a time of 10:42.21. With their fifth place finish of 3:27.35, Fritz Parker ‘15, Peter Hetzler ‘14, Cushman and Nichols also secured honors for the 4x400 meter relay team.
“[DIII New Englands] is always a strange sort of meet for us,” Captain Bryan Holtzman ’14 said. “There is no NESCAC meet for the winter season, so this meet serves somewhat as a stand-in for that. We want to score well as a team, but we certainly don’t do everything possible to maximize our score. In the past, we place much higher at NESCACs than we do at D3s.”
Holtzman lauded his teammates for their individual performances.
“The highlight of the day for me was seeing Brandon Cushman PR by over a second in the 600 meter to take seventh place,” Holtzman said. “He ran aggressively, raced well tactically, and was rewarded with his first All-NE honor.” The men’s squad finished with a total of 12.5 points, taking 15th place in a field of 26 teams.
“We didn’t score as many points as we would have liked and our performances were not as strong as we would have hoped,” Head Coach Martin Beatty said, “but everyone competed hard and was excited for the meet. Considering that our training has been hindered without an indoor track this year, the attitude of the team is amazing. They are all mature and driven athletes that will deal with all obstacles in a positive way.”
The Panthers look to return to action on Friday, Feb. 28 and continue postseason competition when those who make the qualifying list will participate in Open New Englands at Boston University, competing against athletes from all divisions.
(02/19/14 3:51pm)
The indoor track and field team trekked to Boston through snowy conditions on Saturday, Feb. 15 to participate in the Tufts Cupid Challenge, hosted by the Jumbos at the Gantcher Center. The meet is often referred to as “Tufts’ Last Chance,” the final competition of the indoor season that offers an opportunity for athletes to hit qualifying marks that will send them on to postseason meets. The day was one full of quality NESCAC competition, and though the Panther squad had to depart the meet earlier than anticipated due to inclement weather, its strong showing set the stage for a promising postseason in the upcoming weeks.
On the men’s side, particularly strong finishes included Peter Hetzler’s ’14 fifth place effort of 51.32 in the 400m and Wilder Schaaf’s ’14.5 fourth place performance of 1:57.55 in the 800m. Sam Klockenkemper ’17 and Sam Cartwright ’16 also put forward top ten finishes, taking fifth and sixth place respectively in the 1,000 meters. The distance squad’s success was rounded out by Kevin Wood ’15 taking third in the 5k with a time of 15:14.14.
The distance medley relay (DMR) team had an unfortunate baton drop in the first leg of the race, resulting in a slower finish than the high-ranked team had hoped for. Luckily, however, the squad met the qualifying mark for next weekend’s Div. III New Englands on Feb. 7 at Boston University.
The DMR team will be joined by many more Panther teammates at New Englands next weekend, as five more athletes hit their qualifying marks in Saturday’s competition, filling out the list of those who had already done so earlier in the season. In total, the men’s side puts forward a lengthy list of 29 potential entries for New Englands.
On the women’s side, the day also brought a number of exciting top ten finishes.
Erzsie Nagy ’17 and Alex Morris ’16 finished in fourth and sixth place in the 800 meters, posting respective times of 2:21.40 and 2:22.50, while Alison Maxwell ’15 took third in the 1,000 meters in 3:04.9 and Sasha Whittle ’17 took eighth in the same event with a time of 3:10.83.
Other high finishers included Alyssa Taylor ’17 taking 7th in the 5k, Chelsea Montello ’16 taking 10th in the long jump, Jackie Kearney ’16 taking 10th in the 60m hurdles, and Hannah Blackburn ’17 taking 10th in the triple jump. Blackburn also placed third in the long jump with a mark of 16 feet 8 inches, and Laura Strom ’14.5 continued her stellar senior season with a win in the high jump, finishing at 5 ft. 5.75 inches.
“I was happy with my performance because it means that I am getting consistent at a higher height,” Strom said. “But I am looking forward to a more competitive field in the coming weeks and hoping it will push me so I can get up to 5’ 8” again.”
Strom heads into next weekend’s DIII New England’s ranked number one in the region.
The women’s DMR team once again put up a strong performance, beating Bates by just under a second to win their race in a time of 12:09.67.
“We were pleased with the women, although we are still mixing up who runs what on the legs so that we can get the fastest combination,” Distance Coach Nicole Wilkerson said. “We graduated all but the 400m runner from last year’s relay, so although we are rebuilding this year, we are doing a really good job, and it is fun.”
As a whole, the women have 27 total qualifying marks that can be entered this coming weekend at New Englands.
“This is an exciting time,” head coach Martin Beatty said of the coming weeks of championship competition. “These are the meets that we work towards and can award honors to people who score.”
The Panther men head to MIT this weekend on Saturday, Feb. 22 while the women return to action at Springfield, where those who have qualified will compete in the Div. III New England Championships.
(02/12/14 7:10pm)
The track and field team stayed busy over J-term and the duration of February break with three consecutive weekends of meets. On Jan. 24, the Panthers headed up to Canada to participate in the McGill Team Challenge in Montreal, a larger and more competitive meet than those in which they had competed previously.
One of the highlights of the two-day affair came when the women’s 4x200 team consisting of Alex Morris ’16, Jackie Kearney ’16, Sara Sobolewski ’14 and Lauren Henry ’16 broke the Middlebury school record, with a time of 1:47.45.
“It’s been incredibly hard this year without a track to build up any serious speed and turnover, so I don’t think we had many expectations going into the race,” Morris said. “We had never run together before as a relay team and that showed in our handoffs, but it’s always a good feeling to break a school record. We all know that there’s definitely a lot that can still be improved upon.”
Laura Strom ’14.5 also had a strong showing for the Panthers with her fourth place finish, while Emily Mellen ’17 took 12th in the pole vault, Hannah Blackburn ’17 finished 13th in the long jump and Morris placed 14th in the 600. On the men’s side, Jason McCallum ’14 took a solid 5th in the pole vault, while Sultan White ’17 finished 15th in the 60-meter hurdles.
The following weekend the Panthers were back in the United States, traveling to Hanover for the Dartmouth Classic on Feb. 1. On the women’s side, Strom once again finished strong in the high jump, taking second with a mark of 5’ 6”. Morris and Blackburn also performed well again, taking second in the 400 and long jump, respectively. On the men’s side, the 4x400 team consisting of Alex Nichols ’17, Fritz Parker ’15, Peter Hetzler ’14 and Alex Ugorji ’17 took second with a time of 3:25.49. Kevin Wood ’15 took third in the 3k with a time of 8:41.23, while Bryan Holtzman ’14, Luke Carpinello ’16, and McCallum all finished fourth in their respective events of the 60 meters, 1,000 meters and pole vault.
This past weekend, Feb. 7 and 8, the Panthers headed south for their most competitive meet yet, Boston University’s Valentine Invitational, which featured a flurry of sub-4:00 milers and some nation-leading times across the board. The day also brought a handful of stellar Middlebury performances, as Morris broke the standing school record by .8 seconds in the 400 meters, finishing in 57.54 seconds.
“The 400 I ran at BU was one of my best races because it just felt effortless,” Morris said. “I’ve been dying to break 58 ever since I came to Middlebury, and was extremely frustrated last year when it never happened. To achieve it so early in the season is a great feeling as well as to break the school record, but for now I’m just focusing on each race and trying to enjoy every second of it.”
The women’s distance medley relay (DMR) team consisting of Alison Maxwell ’15, Erzsie Nagy ’17, Catie Skinner ’17 and Morris also posted a solid time that placed them in the top 10 in the country, running 12:09.02 and taking sixth place.
On the men’s side, the DMR team also ran themselves into a top 10 national ranking, as Sam Cartwright ’16, Wilder Schaaf ’14.5, Nichols and Carpinello posted a time of 10:05.05 in their ninth place finish. The men’s team also saw another school record broken, as Holtzman bested his own mark from last year with a time of 22.25 in the 200 meters.
“Valentine is always a great meet featuring top level competition,” Holtzman said. “Both the men’s and women’s teams had several standout performances and showed that the lack of an indoor track is not going to stop us from putting up great times. Personally, I’m very happy with how I ran. I went down to BU two weeks ago to run the 200 and unfortunately false started, so to come back and put up an indoor personal best in my first shot at the distance is quite encouraging. I hope to continue to take off time in the coming weeks.”
The Panthers have one more regular season meet at Tufts on Feb. 14 and 15. After that contest, their four week indoor postseason, in which each weekend brings a meet that is more difficult to qualify for.
“This year without having an indoor track and not having a normal training regimen, all of the January meets were all about competing ourselves into shape,” Head Coach Martin Beatty said. “Now, in February, our last few regular season meets are focused on having people qualify into the championship meets and extending their season.”
The Panthers will have their last chance to hit qualifying marks for DIII New England’s this weekend at Tufts, and those who make the cut will return to action the following weekend at Springfield and MIT.
(01/23/14 5:58am)
The track team returned to action on Friday, Jan. 17 for their second meet of the season, hosted by the University of Vermont at the Gardner-Collins Indoor Track in Burlington. The competition consisted of two other Division I teams, the St. Peter’s Peacocks of New Jersey and nearby neighbors the UVM Catamounts, resulting in a smaller field than last week’s Dartmouth Relays. Once again a portion of the team, including a number of distance runners, did not compete as they continue a slower and more gradual start to the long season.
The Gardner-Collins track itself is undersized, meaning that it does not match the standard indoor lap distance of 200 meters, measuring 160 meters instead. As a result, it is more difficult for runners to post faster times, since they spend more time navigating the turns. Nonetheless, the Panthers put in a day of hard effort both on the track and in the field that will aid them as they work toward the peak of their season.
“For the runners, since it is an undersized track that would not yield our best times, we were less concerned with qualifying for championship meets and more concerned with making it a good work day while giving our athletes good meet experience,” head coach Martin Beatty said after the meet. “These were two Division 1 teams, which also gives us good experience going against talented individuals like [those] we’ll see in the championship meets.”
On the women’s side, the day brought a few particularly exciting performances, including from Alex Morris ’16, who won her first career 800 meter race in a time of 2:21.68, beating the field by three seconds.
“I had never run an 800 before in my track career so this was a completely new race for me,” Morris said. “While I was nervous, racing distances longer than I usually run can only help my endurance in my 400. I went into the race with no expectations and right from the gun I just decided to give it my all.”
Morris commented on her approach to the longer distance.
“I definitely felt very inexperienced running because it is so tactically different from the 400, but once I had opened a gap between me and the rest of the runners, my only goal was to keep smooth and steady to the finish line,” she said.
The women’s 4x400 team of Morris, Jackie Kearney ’16, Nikki Schachman ’16 and Paige Fernandez ’17, also crossed the line in first place, edging UVM by a little over a second on the anchor leg with a finishing time of 4:15.58.
Some other scoring performances for the Panthers included the distance medley relay team’s second place finish, Kearney’s third place finish of 9.17 in the 55 meter hurdles, Lauren Henry’s ’16 second place finish of 7.57 in the 55 meter dash, and Hannah Blackburn’s ’17 second place finish of 34 feet 3.5 inches in the triple jump.
Overall, the Catamount women took home top honors with a total of 91 points. St. Peter’s finished in second with 45 points, while Middlebury took third with a total of 32.
On the men’s side, Daniel Plunkett ’16 took home a solid victory in the shotput with a mark of 48 feet 11.75 inches.
“He has really improved this year,” Beatty said of Plunkett’s performance, in which the sophomore thrower posted a mark that was one foot three inches longer than last week.
Other scorers for the Panther men included Will Bain ’15, who tied for second in the 55 meter dash with a time of 6.73, and teammate Bryan Holtzman ’14 finished close behind in fourth, running 6.74. James Lynch ’16 took second in the triple jump with a mark of 38 feet 6.75 inches.
The host Catamounts once again took home the overall victory as their men scored 88.5 points, while the Peacocks’ 46 points were good for second place. The Panther men finished at 30.5 in third.
“It was a good meet for us,” Beatty said of the day as a whole. “We are still focusing on building up our technique with the field events and strength with the running events.”
Captain Lottie Hedden ’14 spoke for those who began their season on Friday, especially the distance runners who treated the day as more of a glorified workout.
“Energy was high and many athletes took advantage of the casual nature of the meet and tried running a new event. All-in-all it was a great starting point for the season and everyone is excited for more competition next week,” Hedden said.
The Panther squad will continue their season at the McGill Team Challenge in Montreal on Jan. 24 and 25.
(01/16/14 3:42am)
The track team began its indoor season on Sunday, Jan. 12, at the Dartmouth Relays in Hanover, NH. While the distance squad, which is comprised mainly of cross country runners, stayed at school to get in more rest and training in preparation of its second of three consecutive seasons, the rest of the team traveled south to compete against a group of mostly Division I schools at Leverone Field House.
On the men’s side, one of the highlights of the day came with Jason McCallum’s ’14 fourth-place finish in the pole vault, where he finished at a height of 14 feet and 1.25 inches. Another solid performance came in the 400m, where Alex Nichols ’17 won his heat and took sixth overall with a time of 50.97.
“The meet was basically a way to get a reference point for the rest of our year,” Nichols said. “It was the first time we really got to see how we stacked up against some very good teams as well as what we need to keep working on. Now we’re actually in season and can keep striving for improvement.”
The team also put forward a nice showing in the 4x400 meter relay, taking seventh place in a field of 20 teams with a time of 3:31.10. As a whole, the men’s squad finished in ninth-place with a total of six points. The host Dartmouth men took home the title, edging Southern Connecticut State by seven points for a total of 120. The only other NESCAC school at the meet, Williams, finished in fifth with 32 points.
On the women’s side, the day brought a number of exciting Panther performances. Laura Strom ’14.5 won an impressive victory in the high jump with a mark of 5 feet 8.5 inches, making her the top-ranked women’s high jumper in the nation. Alex Morris ’16 also put forth an excellent performance in the 400m, where she took second overall with a time of 58.99, running herself into a third-place NCAA ranking for the event. The women’s team as a whole totaled 19 points, finishing in sixth place and edging NESCAC competitor Tufts by one point. The Williams women were also in attendance, taking fourth place. Once again, Dartmouth took home top honors, decisively edging Harvard with 140.5 points.
“It’s the first meet of many weekends between the winter and spring. While performances will improve and peak by the end of the year, this was a good start. A few people really surprised us with just how good of a start they would have,” head coach Martin Beatty said.
“Not being able to truly train like we would if we had an indoor track does hurt, but we are trying our best to overcome and work hard. At the same time it’s fun to run against some D-I competition and as usual we held our own and of course, Strom beat all of them.”
As they begin to shake off the rust, the Panthers return to action this Friday, Jan. 17, at the University of Vermont.
THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN BY FIONA MALONEY-McCHRYSTAL