In a final attempt to tune up individual performances before the quickly approaching Heptagonal Championships, the men and women's track teams will host the Dartmouth Invitational tonight at Leverone Fieldhouse.
Several small schools from the area will compete, including Keene State, Colby Sawyer and Salem State. Also in attendance will be some running clubs, most notably the Hanover Athletic Club, the Central Mass Striders and the Boston Athletic Association.
Dartmouth will play host to the Heptagonals Feb. 24-25 at Leverone, and the teams are looking forward to the event. The home turf advantage, combined with the talents and potential of both teams will play a prominent role in their quest for a top spot in the meet.
Since the start of the indoor season, the members of the teams have racked up a very impressive number of first place finishes, new personal records and qualifying marks in just about any event possible.
Just last weekend at their final team scoring meets of the season, both teams easily blew away their opponents. With 73 points, the men walked over the University of Maine and Brandeis, while the women's 61 points topped Maine, Brandeis, and the University of Hartford.
With many top distance runners again competing at Boston University's Valentine Classic, the field events personnel stepped copped a large portion of the team's points. Steve Clark '97, John Fernquist '98, Dan Neiderjohn '97, Jon Wilde '98, Dave Bensinger '98, Greg Johnston '99 and Lane Burks '97 swept the jumping events and the pole vault.
Meanwhile, the duo of Damon Blechen '98 and Alex Ghanotakis '97 controlled the top spots in the throwing events. Together in six events, those nine accounted for 45 of the team's 73 points.
Other top finishes for the Green came from Wayne Burwell '97 in the 400 meter run, and Johnston, Ian Campbell '99 and Eric Szegda '97 who swept the top three spots in the 55 meter high hurdles.
The women were also on fire, led by Pilar Rodriguez '97 and Wendy Skelton '99. Rodriguez won the triple jump and the long jump as usual, as well as placing second in the 55 meter dash and running on the four by 400 meter relay team which finished second in the meet. Other members of the relay team were Katie Johnson '99, Meghan McCarthy '98 and Helene Sisti '96.
Skelton won the shot and the weight throw. Her throw of 43 feet, nine and a half inches was a huge personal best. Stacey Briere '97 took runner-up honors with a toss of 43 feet, one and a half inches. Alisa Antkowiak '99 and Denise Hobson '99 finished third and fourth respectively.
Helena Kimball '99 came close to an ECAC qualifying time in the mile with her winning time of 5:10. She also nabbed second place in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:23.
All season, the Big Green have stressed individual performances, as the Dartmouth throwers, runners and jumpers all attempt to qualify for post-season competition.
The men have been looking to the Heptagonals and IC4A Championships, while the Big Green women look to qualify for the ECAC Championships as well as the Heptagonals.
In distance running, the Big Green have also been qualifying runners for the NCAA Championships. Last weekend at BU, the distance runners came away with some top individual performances.
Kristin Manwaring '96 chalked up one of the top ten times in the country in the mile with a blistering 4:44.3. That time was an 11 second personal record and a new school record as well.
In the 3,000 meter run, Jenna Rogers '98 ran a 9:35, a personal record as well as a NCAA provisional qualifying time. Maribel Sanchez '96 came in just behind her at 9:36, which was also a NCAA qualifying time. Kristin Pierce '96 and Deidre Milligan '98 both ran well enough in the same event to qualify for the ECAC meet.
For the men, Jack Dwyer '96 ran a very strong 8:05 in the 3,000 meter run, breaking his personal record by 13 seconds and qualifying for the NCAA meet. Running alongside Dwyer, Don Conrad '99 and Michael Fortier '97 both notched personal records as well.
Tonight's meet is a very important opportunity for some members of the teams to showcase what they can do before the Heptagonals next weekend. Each team is only allowed to enter a total of 33 athletes in the Heps, a championship meet.
Only the best performers will compete. According to the men's Coach Barry Harwick, the purpose of Dartmouth Invite is two-fold.
"We have some athletes who are vying for spots in the Heps," Harwick said. "In addition, some of the athletes on the teams need a final tune-up for the Heps. For some of the freshmen it is important for them to show what they can do."
The Dartmouth Invitational is slated to begin at 6:00 p.m. tonight at Leverone.
