Despite the inescapable pull of the most Hallmark of holidays, both the men's and women's track teams were able to pull themselves away from Hanover to compete in the Valentine Classic hosted by Boston University. Ignoring any yearning to be in more comfortable confines than the new, pristine Track and Tennis Center in Boston, both teams turned in memorable performances, headlined by the record-breaking women's distance medley relay.
The distance medley relay of Jessie Allen-Young '03, Cecily Garber '03, Matthan Chatterton-Richmond '06 and Megan Olds '06 shattered the nine-year old school record by almost 14 seconds. Their time of 11:20.35 was just one second off of the automatic NCAA qualifying time and placed them second at the meet.
"The week leading up to the meet, the four members of the relay team sat down with Coach Ellen O'Neil," Allen-Young said. "We set reasonable goals and then we all set exceptional goals. On Friday afternoon, we all reached our exceptional goals."
"It really was an awesome effort by each member of the relay. I definitely was on cloud nine after the [distance medley relay]. I could not sleep on Friday night."
As excited as the team was after the historic performance, they know that they still have work ahead of them.
"We were so close to qualifying for nationals," Allen-Young said, while Garber called the performance "very exciting" but cautioned that they still "need to qualify at ECACs to run in the NCAA meet."
After running well on Friday evening, three of the four relay members had to turn right around and compete individually on Saturday. The exhilarating and exhausting proceedings from the night before seemed to hardly affect them, as all turned in noteworthy performances the following day.
Both Garber and Olds ran the 800, with Garber taking third in 2:09.38, while Olds was sixth in 2:12.60. Allen-Young, whose mile split in the relay was just one second off the school record and the fastest in the Ivy League so far this year, turned in another impressive individual mile time on Saturday, crossing the finish line in 4:51.02.
The 3000 was dominated by the Big Green, who took second, third, fourth and sixth. Kristen Ettensohn '05 ran a 9:49.33 with Besty Burke '06 and Kristin Andrews '03 closely in tow with times of 9:50.05 and 9:50.83 respectively. Melanie Schorr '06 rounded out the runners, turning in a 9:53.77. All four times were good enough to pass the ECAC benchmark.
Two sophomores ran strong 1000s, feeding off the excitement of the team. Betsy Williamson '05 took third in 2:55.54, a personal best of two seconds, while Elizabeth Peacock-Villada '05 was a place behind, taking fourth in 2:56.32. All in all, 10 female runners ran times to qualify for ECACs.
The men's weekend was no less remarkable, though their excellence was led by strong individual performances. Colin Ingram '04 won the championship division of the 1000 in dominating fashion, running a 2:27.21, more than a second ahead of the nearest competitor.
Brian Hanley '05 also ran an outstanding race, challenging the school record books in the process. His time of 4:06.37 in the mile was the fifth fastest ever run by a member of the Big Green and good enough to take third at the meet.
"The Heptagonal Championships is coming up in two weeks," Hanley said. "I can't wait. My time puts me third, so if I wasn't going for the win I should probably quit."
The time, which was a personal best by four seconds, is within striking distance of the NCAA provisional mark, and Hanley credits teammates for his improvement.
"I've really improved a crazy amount this year, and I think one of the reasons for it is my teammate and fellow miler Bart Van Veghel '06," he said. "I think that I have really benefited from being a part of the best young miling duo in the Ivy League. We workout very well together and he is a cagey racer who helps me until the second the gun goes off."
Van Veghel and Ross Tucker '05 ran well in the same race, turning in times of 4:09.01 and 4:13.98. Despite the plethora of younger talent among the men's distance runners, Mark Nichol '04 represented the upperclassmen well, attaining the lofty plateau of provisional qualifying mark by running the 3000 in 8:08.49. The Big Green had nine other athletes run IC4A qualifying marks.
Dartmouth's next home meet is only two weeks away, when Nathaniel Leverone Field House will hose the Heptagonal Championships.
