Shaina Damm '02 and Mustafa Abdur-Rahim '04 led the way for Dartmouth with first place finishes in the women's and men's pentathlons on the first day of action at the 32nd annual Dartmouth Relays at Leverone Field House on Friday.
For the women, Damm ran away with first place, easily winning the pentathlon by over 500 points. She earned 3,522 points, while the next highest score came from Christina Regan of Boston College with 2,973. Dartmouth's Elizabeth Fontaine '04 took fifth.
"Training in every event has been going great all fall, so I knew I was ready to put a good pent together and I'm very happy about the win," Damm said. "I set new personal records in the hurdles, shot and long jump, and my overall score was also a new personal record."
In the men's competition, Abdur-Rahim collected 3,631 points, including an impressive 831 in the 55-meter high hurdles. Teammate Taylor Smith '02 finished second with 3,591. The Dartmouth men had a strong overall showing in the pentathlon, taking five of the top eight places. These other top finishes came from Joe Kimpel '03 in fifth, Matt Ellis '01 in sixth and Matt Markell '01 in eighth.
On the third and final day of the competition, Dartmouth's performance was characterized by pairs of top finishes in several events.
Dartmouth was led by Parker Pruett '01, who took first place in the mile with a time of 4:10.87. Teammate Tom McArdle '03 finished fifth in a time of 4:15.04.
"I had hoped to run 4:06 or so this weekend, but that was based on a fast early pace, so I don't consider this race to be representative of my current fitness," Pruett said. "However, I was happy with the way I closed the race."
Tyler Haney '03 and Ahmad Abdur-Rahim '04 finished second and fifth respectively in the 400-meter dash with times of 49.57 and 50.82.
"I really wanted to start the year on a good note," Haney said. "I knew I had a strong race in me, but actually turning a good time felt very good. Now I'm just going to build off this performance and, if all goes well, make a run at winning Heps."
Alex Schindelar added yet another second place finish for Dartmouth, as he finished the 800 meters in 1:58.31.
On the women's side, Cecily Garber '03 took third in the mile in a time of 5:05.92, while Meghann Ganey '01 took fifth with a clocking of 5:06.98.
Allison Cardlin '01 captured third in the women's shot put with a distance of 44-11, while Meagan Verdeyen '03 came in fifth with a toss of 42-8.75.
