Sam Wilbur '94 ran the fastest indoor 3,000 meters of his life Saturday.
The fastest 3,000 meters in NCAA competition this year.
The fastest time by an American this year.
Not surprisingly, Wilbur called it the greatest race of his career. Men's track Coach Barry Harwick called Wilbur's race "fantastic" and Wilbur's number one ranking in America "a tremendous honor."
Running at the Valentines Classic in Boston, Wilbur won in 7:56.29, two-tenths of a second faster than the University of Arkansas's Canadian Olympian Graham Hood ran earlier this season and one and a half seconds faster than American Olympian Reuben Reina.
Wilbur was helped by rabbit Eric Nedeau. Nedeau, a national leader in a number of middle distance events, and a friend of Wilbur, brought the field through 2,000 meters in an eight-minute pace before dropping out.
Wilbur assumed the lead when Nedeau stepped aside, and then slowed the pace, settling in to second place. With two laps left Wilbur began his kick, passed into the lead and sprinted through the 8:00 barrier.
While Wilbur competed in Boston, both the men's and women's track teams ran in a five-team meet at Brown University. The men's team won its meet, while the women finished a strong second, behind a larger Brown team.
At Brown, the men's 3,000 meter runners formed a parade, finishing first through forth and, in the words of Harwick "probably won the meet for us."
Before the 3,000 meters Dartmouth and Brown were separated by one point. Ted Fitzpatrick '95, Aaron Bouplon '95, Chris Langan '96 and Jack Dwyer '96 led the great sweep and put Dartmouth ahead by 16 points to provide the margin of victory.
Off the track, Dartmouth had a score of victories in the field events, lead by Adam Nelson '97 in the shot put and Alex Ghanotakis '97 in the weight throw.
Pole vaulter Scott Schimooka '95 and high jumper Steve Clark '97, both coming off strong performances last week, performed well. Schimooka won the pole vault with a clearance more than 15' 9". Clark finished second in the high jump with a jump of 6'9".
Long and triple jumper Lane Burks '97 scored valuable points for the Big Green, winning the triple jump with a hop, skip and jump of 45' 2.5" and finishing fifth in the long jump.
Harwick said the meet was, "very exciting" and an important team victory.
The Dartmouth women's team formed its own parade on Saturday in the mile, helping the Big Green to a second place finish. Maribel Sanchez '96, who won in a time of 4:55.28, Kristin Cobb '95, Kristin Manwaring '96 and Sarah Howlett '98 took four of the top five places.
The Dartmouth distance runners also ran well in the distance medley relay, running their fastest time this season.
The strongest individual performance came from Amy Winchester '96. With a shot put of 49' 2" Winchester set her personal record, broke the school record and provisionally qualified for the NCAA championships.
Karen Rieper '95 was the third Individual event winner. She won the long jump with a season's best leap of 17' 9 1/2".
