Dartmouth's track teams concluded their indoor league season this past weekend by competing in the Indoor Heptagonal Championships hosted by Cornell University. Both the men's and women's team were carried by the outstanding performance of their multi-eventers, with Mustafa Abdur-Rahim '04 winning the heptathlon and Kelsey Wiegmann '06 taking the pentathlon.
Princeton claimed the men's title, while the Cornell women won for the third consecutive year. The Big Green men settled for eight while the women were sixth; last year the teams took fourth and fifth respectively. The event, considered the Ivy League championship, has been contested since 1935.
Abdur-Rahim capped another outstanding indoor season in winning the heptathlon. The event, which was expanded from the pentathlon last year, spanned both days of the two-day event. Abdur-Rahim led after Day 1 and never looked back. He won the multi-event for the second year -- the ninth in a row a Dartmouth athlete has taken the gold at Heps.
"Coming in as a defending champ it was a little different in terms of how I noticed the competition but once I started competing nothing was new. I just tried to win every event I was in," Abdur-Rahim said.
For the second year in a row he took home an additional piece of hardware as well -- the meet's Outstanding Male Performer trophy, shared with Steve Sundell of Columbia. Tom McArdle '03 won the award in 2002, making this the third year in a row a Dartmouth has had its name on the trophy.
Abdur-Rahim's seven-event total of 5,645 points broke his own school record as well, this being the second time he has posted an automatic NCAA qualifying score.
"Mustafa is an amazing athlete and I feel that I have been lucky to have him as a training partner as long as I've been here. His performance this weekend was great and an inspiration for me because he always performs well and with a clear mind," said teammate and fellow heptathlete Andrew Hall '05.
Hall was fifth in the heptathlon with 4,939 points.
The men claimed three thirds and Jarrod Shoemaker '04 had a hand in two of them. On Saturday he posted a time of 8:32.48, good for third in the 3,000 and then came back on Sunday to run a leg of the distance medley relay with Steve Mucchetti '06, Andy Hamilton '04 and Liam Butler '05 that was third in 10:03.19.
Mike Mozer '05 was third in the weight with 58-6, and Charlie Deutsch '07 was sixth at 55-3. Both throws were huge personal records. "My goal was to have a personal record and score some points for my team. I had no idea I was going to throw 5 feet over my PR and place third," said Mozer.
Ikechi Ogbonna '06 fought through injury to not only make the 60 meter dash finals, but to place fourth. Richard Efem '04 was seventh. "Initially my goal was to win the 60. I felt I had a pretty good chance at winning the event until about a week ago when I hurt my hamstring. After that I was just hoping to make it through the race without any serious injury," said Ogbonna.
Also scoring for the men: Joe Marucheck '04 and Ahmad Abdur-Rahim '04 were fifth and sixth in the long jump, Brian McCarthy '05 was fifth in the high jump and Marucheck was sixth in the triple jump.
Sophomore stars led the women's team. Kelsey Wiegmann '06, second a year ago in the pentathlon, won the event this winter with a score of 3,779.
"Winning had been more of a long term goal that I hoped to reach before I graduated," Wiegmann said. "It didn't really seem like a possibility until the last few events, so I was absolutely thrilled when it actually happened."
Wiegmann credited teammates Matthan Chatterton-Richmond '06 and Jadah Chatterton-Richmond '07 as helping her to the title. "Having Mattie and Jadah competing in the pent too helped more than I can even begin to explain. Not only are they two great athletes and competitors, but they are so encouraging and motivating."
The two sisters took fifth and 12th respectively while Mattie also took fifth in the long jump and Kelsey was second in the high jump, one spot better than she did last year.
Jamila Smith '06 was another other outstanding sophomore, as she was runner-up in both the shot put and the weight throw with throws of 43-9 and 57-8.25. Her throw in the weight broke a school record set by Sarah Hayes '01.
"Jamila threw great with two 2nd's in both the weight and the shot, not to mention that she broke the school record in the weight which is just amazing," said Wiegmann.
Despite her outstanding performance Smith expects more of herself: "My second place finishes in both the shot put and the weight were very respectable and I was proud to earn them, but what kind of athlete would I be if I was satisfied with second place. Next year first place will be mine."
Lilly Bertz continued her strong freshman year, placing fifth in the pole vault in her first Heptagonal meet, clearing 10-11.75 while Nadine Parris was fifth in the triple jump with 38-11.5.
The teams can now look ahead to the two remaining meets of the indoor season, the ECAC/IC4A's and the NCAA's before a well deserved spring break.
