With victories in seven different events at last weekend's meet at Harvard, the Big Green men's track team surely left both the Crimson and the Brown Bears wondering what had hit them, as Dartmouth won the meet with 91 points to Harvard's 85 and Brown's 27. On several occasions, in fact, the Big Green left its opponents seeing double.
In the 1,500-meter race, All-American Tom McArdle '03 and teammate Jason Taylor '02 combined to finish first and second, respectively. McArdle crossed the finish line in 3 minutes and 55.62 seconds, while Taylor joined him a mere three-tenths of a second later.
When asked about the race, Taylor said, "Despite the crummy conditions, the race turned out well for both of us. Tom and I worked well together throughout the race, swapping the lead in order to do some drafting into the heavy wind on the home straitaway of the track."
The Big Green created double trouble for a second time in the 400-meter hurdles, as Ahmad and Mustafa Abdur-Rahim '04 finished less than two seconds apart to finish first and third, respectively. Ahmad picked up the win in 54.72 seconds, joined by his twin brother in 56.71 seconds.
When asked about the benefits of racing with his brother, Mustafa Abdur-Rahim said, "It's like I'm home. I am so much more relaxed and confident that things will be OK."
In the field events, Marc Hermer '02 doubled up in his own right, as his 153'2" discus and 165'7" hammer throw were good enough for two of the Big Green's five field victories. Taylor Smith '02, Joe Marucheck '04 and Andrew Hall '05 added to Dartmouth's success with victories in the long jump, triple jump and javelin throw, respectively.
The Dartmouth women's team finished third in its half of the meet, tallying 42 points behind Brown's 77 and Harvard's 73. The Big Green women enjoyed victories by Cecily Graber '03 in the 800-meter race and Dagny Dingman '02 in the 3,000-meters.
In addition, Dartmouth received strong multiple-event performances from both Meagan Verdeyen '03 and Shaina Damm '02. Verdeyen was a consistently solid performer in throwing events, taking second in the shotput with a throw of 41 feet, 7-3/4 inches and adding a pair of third-place finishes in the hammer and discus throws. For her part, Damm had a trio of third-place finishes in the unlikely combination of the 100-meter hurdles, the javelin throw, and the long jump. Sarah Doust added a second place finish after clearing 5'3" in the high jump, and the 4 x 400-meter relay team grabbed second with a time of 3:58.36.
Both the men's and women's teams will be back in action this weekend, as Dartmouth hosts a tri-meet with Boston College and Plattsburgh State. The meet begins at 12 p.m. at Memorial Field and is the last chance to see the Big Green track and field teams at home before the Dartmouth Invitational on April 28.
