Both the men's and the women's track teams ended their seasons with several strong performances at this weekend's championship meets.
The women finished eighth at the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships at Yale University. The men finished 40th at the IC4A Championships at Princeton University.
The Big Green was the only Ivy League team to finish in the top ten at the ECAC's. They ended the meet with 23 points and an eighth place finish out of 31 teams.
The results are among Dartmouth's highest finishes ever. The Big Green were led by Kristin Cobb '95, whose strong performances helped her achieve a third place finish in the 3000 meter and a team victory in the distance medley relay. Cobb ran a 9:37.37 in the 3000, just missing the NCAA provisional cut.
The distance medley relay team ran perhaps the best race of the entire ECAC championships. They finished in 11:34.25, beating the nearest competitor by over 12 seconds.
The team narrowly missed an NCAA qualifying time. There are no official cuts for this event. Instead, the NCAA accepts the top ten relays. The Big Green ranked possibly as high as 13th.
"I have to say that we were a little discouraged that we didn't get the chance for our [distance medley relay team] to run the time we felt that we needed to qualify for NCAA's." Coach Sandra Ford-Centonze said. "Before the race we found out that Georgetown, who had run 11:30, had been bumped down to 11th place in the rankings, so we knew that we had to run under their best time."
Unfortunately, Dartmouth wasn't up to the challenge of racing with Georgetown. They finished in just over 11:47.
For the Big Green, Amy Winchester '96 and Captain Candice Shoemaker '94 dominated the shot put final. Winchester finished third with a throw of 44' 6" and Shoemaker finished sixth with a 44' 2 1/2" toss.
"The team is great. They did well." Shoemaker said. "Everyone is happy with their performances."
Cobb and Maribel Sanchez '96 will be going to next week's NCAA championships. Both will perform in the mile run.
"We did have Kristin Cobb and Maribel Sanchez qualify provisionally for the NCAA's , so I will know tonight if they get in, but it does look good." Ford-Centonze said. "They have both run very well this season and have improved every meet."
The men scored one point and finished in a tie for 40th at the IC4A's. They, too were led by their distance medley relay team, which finished eighth in 10:10.19.
In the mile, Chris Langan '96 placed fifth in his heat in a time of 4:14.99, a personal best. In the 800 meter, Aaron Culliney '96 finished fourth in his heat with a 1:53.12.
The NCAA will release the official seeds for next weekend's championships later tonight. Sam Wilbur '95 is among Dartmouth's NCAA hopefuls. He ran a 8:06.03 in the 3000 meter, just under the provisional cut.
Both teams will open the spring track season March 19th at the Arizona State University Nike Invitational.
