It was a busy weekend at Leverone Field House, as more than 2,000 athletes came from New England, New York and Canada to compete in the 34th annual Dartmouth Relays. The Big Green finished strong as a whole, with the men's team winning and the women's team placing second.
Winning four events and placing well in several other events, the men's team finished with 138 points, while Williams College finished a distant second with 57. The women, finishing with 66 points, were narrowly edged out by Wheaton College's 76.83 points.
Excellent performances in the pentathlon gave the Big Green a boost on its way to victory. Mustafa Abdur-Rahim '04 won two of the five events to capture the men's title with 3,672 points. Fellow '04 Sean Furey also showed a strong performance, finishing third.
Points for the Dartmouth men also came from several other key performances. New Jersey native Mark Nichol '04 won the 300-meter run (8:25.39) while Joe Marucheck '04 took home a win in the triple jump (46-4). Another victory came from the 1600 relay team (Tyler Haney '03, '04s Ahmad and Mustafa Abdur-Rahim, and Andy Hamilton '04), took the race with a time of 3:22.48. Colin Ingram '04, Brian Hanley '05, and '06s Chris Mah and Bart van Veghel combined to win the 3200 relay with a time of 7:53.65.
The men also enjoyed great finishes in the mile run (Hanley, 4:13.92), the 800 (Mah, 1:58.90), the 3000 (Quinn Thomas '05, 8:27.63, and Zach Strong '05, 8:33.93), and the 400 (Haney, 49.50).
The Dartmouth men were not the only ones burning up the track, as the women posted an impressive team score led behind some commanding individual performances. Kristin Andrews '03 won the 5000 meters with a time of 17:50.56, and Betsy Burke '06 captured the 3000-meter run, posting a time of 10:01.92.
Said Burke of her performance, "It was a really fun race. We took it out pretty slow and relaxed, so the whole thing was relatively consistent. I just sat on the leader and kicked with 300 or so to go. It felt good a good start."
A good start indeed, as both the Dartmouth men's and women's teams look forward to next competing at Columbia on Jan. 17.
Also competing at the Dartmouth Relays were high school athletes, who set three meet records on the second day of competition, and open division athletes, who also set several meet records.
