In an Ivy League tri-meet, Dartmouth track and field dominated Columbia and Yale Universities on Saturday, Jan. 24. The men finished with 81 points, securing victory by a wide margin over second place Columbia with 46. The women enjoyed a similar lead over the competition, putting 82 points on the board to Yale’s 53.
The win marked the third straight for the men and the women. The only second place finish for both teams this season came on Dec. 13 at Northeastern University’s Jay Carisella Invitational, where they finished second behind Northeastern.
Despite the individual nature of the sport, team cohesion can translate into momentum and greater success on an individual level, Dom Filiano ’14 said.
“Out of all my time at Dartmouth, this team probably has the most chemistry to it,” Filiano said. “I know my team has my back, which is great. ”
Even though the wins are important, the athletes are focused on increasing their margin of victory and improving on their past successes, men’s coach Barry Harwick said.
“Dana [Giordano ’16] won [the one mile run] very easily, but her time puts her [third] in our all-time list,” Harwick said.“That’s an event where we’ve historically been very strong. Those are some of the things that don’t show up in the raw stats, but the coaches and athletes definitely pay attention.”
The men’s hot start in the field events set the tone for the day.
“We came out this weekend and had a really dominating performance, sweeping the shot put and taking one, two and four in the weight throw,” Filiano said. “It’s hard to get much more dominant than that.”
Filiano led the way in the field by setting a personal record and finishing first place in the weight throw with a 17.24 meter toss, which qualified him for the IC4A championships.
He doubled up on first place finishes on the day by taking first in the shot put with a 16.06 meter throw on his fifth attempt.
Filiano’s success this weekend speaks to the chemistry between him and the new throws coach, Jeff Forino.
“Coach Forino doesn’t really subscribe to one school of thought,” Filiano said. “I’m not the tallest of guys, so there are some things taller and bigger guys can do and get away with that I can’t. Forino’s done a great job with the entire team figuring out what needs to be done technically based on the individual strengths and weaknesses of each athlete.” The men fared equally well in the jumps, taking first place finishes in the high jump, pole vault and long jump. Overall, four different men finished first in field events.
Dartmouth’s momentum from the field events transferred over to speed on the track.
The Big Green had three individual event wins on the track, highlighted by a sweep of the 60-meter hurdles. Alex Frye ’17 finished first, followed closely by Daniel Katz ’16 and Ben Colello ’18 to claim the three top spots. Katz and Colello finished a mere .01 seconds apart, with experience narrowly edging youth.
Capping off a successful outing, Dartmouth took first in the 4x400 meter relay.
The women were equally strong on the afternoon, posting their best performances on the track.
In the field, Dartmouth benefited from the fire power of its young guns. Lyndsi Ross-Trevor ’18 gave the Big Green its only win in the field with a 3.60 meter pole vault. Bridget Douglas ’18 nabbed third place finishes in the shot put and the weight throw.
Kaitlin Whitehorn ’16 — generally a track and field double-threat — did not compete in the high jump at the meet in order to focus on her performance in the sprints.
On the track, Dartmouth veterans led the way. Whitehorn, Jennifer Meech ’16, Erica Hendershot ’15, Giordano and Lauren Ready ’15 all scored individual titles.
“We’re getting stronger and learning more technique the longer we stay with the program, which is leading to better performances early in the season,” Whitehorn said.
Dartmouth’s first place finish in the 4x400 meter relay — more than four seconds over second place Columbia — complemented its strength in the individual events.
The track and field teams will travel to Boston to compete in the Terrier Classic at Boston University on Saturday.
