The Big Green scorched the Arizona desert this past week, dominating action at both the Arizona State Invitational on Friday and Saturday and at a competition held at Scottsdale Community College a day earlier.
Though dozens of Dartmouth athletes contributed to the team's success this past week, Mustafa Abdur-Rahim '04 proved to be the star of the show, winning ECAC Player of the Week honors for the second time this year.
While in Scottsdale, Abdur-Rahim finished the two-day decathlon with a score of 7,936 points, simultaneously qualifying for the U.S. Olympic Trials and shattering the East Coast collegiate record held by UConn's Will Thomas. Finishing with 3,886 points on the last day of competition, Abdur-Rahim ran times of 14.6 in the hurdles and 4:23.49 in the 1,500 meter run.
Andrew Hall '05 and Tyler Koskenoja '07 finished second and third respectively, compiling point totals of 6,773 and 5,917.
Dartmouth's women also performed well, sweeping the top three spots in the heptathlon. Kelsey Wiegmann '07 won the event with 4,882 points. On the last day of the event, she ran the 800 meters in 2:31.41, threw the javelin 139-9 and leapt 17-10 1/4 in the long jump.
Matthan Chatterton-Richmond '06 and her sister, Jadah '07, took second and third.
The Big Green's momentum carried over to the following day at Arizona State, where the Dartmouth men won nine events. Abdur-Rahim, Richard Efem '04, Ikechi Ogbonna '06 and Fatih Stanley '07 combined for the first sub-41 4 x 100 relay in school history, taking the event in 40.97 seconds.
Abdur-Rahim continued to impress, winning the 400 hurdles and the long jump. Sean Furey '04 met the NCAA qualifying standard in the javelin, throwing 230-9, and Brian McCarthy '05 cleared 6-6 on his way to a first-place finish in the high jump.
On the women's side, Hilary Dionne '07 won the steeplechase with a time of 11:44.11, while fellow freshman Lilly Bertz claimed first in the pole vault. Jamila Smith '06 and Katy Krizan '04 were also winners, taking the shot put and high jump, respectively.
The Big Green resume action on the road this coming Saturday, taking on the University of Connecticut.
The Huskies are competing for the first time since March 13, when they swept the top four spots in the pole vault and won the javelin at the Disney Relays in Orlando, Fla.
