In the words of Big Green men's team captain Tyler Haney '03 "things have come full circle" and for the first time since his freshman winter, the Indoor Heptagonal Championships return to the comfortable confines of Nathaniel Leverone Field House here in Hanover.
For the uninformed, Heptagonal Championships include the Ancient Eight as well as the U.S. Naval Academy, one of the largest and most prestigious meets in collegiate track. This is the 56th edition of the Indoor Championships. The men will look to improve on last year's runner-up showing, hoping to knock off five-time defending champion Princeton.
"As for the meet, I am confident the team can improve on last year's second place finish. This year's team is probably the most complete team we've had in my four years here," stated Haney. "All the pieces of the puzzle are there. And I have full confidence that we as a team can perform."
The team will look to a group of experienced and celebrated seniors to lead the way. Along with Haney, will be Mustafa Abdur-Rahim '03, Jeff Guenette '03 and Tom McArdle '03, as well as a host of others all looking to capitalize at their last home meet in Leverone.
Haney, the champion in the 400 at the 2001 meet, will be looking for redemption after a second place finish last year. He hopes to take lessons learned over the past four years into this, his final home indoor meet, "I've learned to take big meets like Heps one race at a time. I do believe I can regain the title I held two years ago but am not going to discount any races or competitors beforehand."
While Haney is looking to regain what he lost, Mustafa Abdur-Rahim is looking to continue an unparalleled Dartmouth tradition, that of excellence in the pentathlon. When all is said and done after the two-day event, a Big Green runner has stood tall on the podium as champion for seven straight years, a streak Abdur-Rahim would love to continue. He was just 21 points back from the second place finisher last year, when he came in third. Alumnus Taylor Smith '02 has taken the crown the last two years.
Dartmouth also returns last winter's meet Most Outstanding Performer in Tom McArdle '03 who has been the dominant force in distance for two years. He has won nearly everything he enters, including the 5,000m run at Indoor and Outdoor Heps at each of the last two seasons as well as the 3,000 title at last years Indoor meet. McArdle has been an All-America in indoor track, outdoor track as well as cross-country and looks to continue his dominance on his home turf.
McArdle's stiffest competition may not come from across the country, but rather from teammate Mark Nichol '04 who has posted the second fastest time in the league in the 3,000 as well as a 5,000 time that is close to NCAA provisional time.
Jeff Guenette'03 has come oh so close and will look to this meet to claim his first title. The runner-up from last year, he has recorded the fastest time in the league in the 500 and will look to carry the number 1 seed all the way to victory.
The women's team will look to improve on last year's tie for seventh, hopefully riding a trio of experienced seniors and a group of talented freshman to success. The three seniors: Meagan Verdeyen'03, Cecily Garber '03 and Jessie Allen-Young '03, will all be counted on heavily to perform if the team hopes to achieve its goals for the meet.
Verdeyen, like McArdle, is a defending champion who will likely experience the greatest pressure from someone that she trains with day in and day out. She is the defending shot-put champ, but the incredible rookie season of Jamila Smith '06 has threatened Verdeyen's repeat. Smith has the best throw in the league up to this point and will have the lofty position of first seed this weekend.
Captain Cecily Garber is knocking on the door for her first title. Last year's second place finisher, her time in the 800 is the best in the league so far, but with the second seed breathing down her back, Garber will need the steady nerves of a senior to pull out the win.
Fellow senior Allen-Young is also expected to perform well in the mile, her seed time puts her among the elite of Heps and if the women are to improve on last year's showing she is one who should display a gutsy performance with the help of the home crowd.
All eyes will be focused on Kelsey Wiegman who is riding a wave of success into this meet. She recently jumped a personal best and school record 5' 8.75" in the high jump, the best in the league so far this year. While initially feeling the jitters any freshman must with such expectations "it's turning into excitement more than anything. I'm anxious to get out there and perform like I know I can, but at the same time, I don't feel a ton of pressure because I have plenty of time to place in Heps. I think that the seeding actually takes a lot of pressure off, rather than putting the pressure on. It allows me to feel a lot more confident going into the competition, instead of feeling intimidated," she recently declared.
She is confident that the butterflies that come with performing in front of the home crown won't adversely affect the team either, "I think that all anyone is expecting from the team is that we put our hearts into our performances, have confidence in ourselves, and have fun."
Pentathlete Dru Hall '05 summed up the attitudes of both teams leading up to this most important weekend: "everyone is really excited and ready to compete. The energy level down at the track this week has been very high. We've got quite a few athletes who are going to do great things this weekend, and I think that there are a lot of others who are going to step up big and surprise some people."
The meet will begin at 11 a.m. each day in Leverone.
