As the Dartmouth men's and women's track and field teams prepare for the Heptagonal Championships at the U.S. Naval Academy on May 11 and 12, at least one thing is certain. In many ways, the Big Green teams have never been better.
This past Saturday, at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Ryan Fagan '02 became the second Dartmouth runner in a week to break a long-standing school record. Fagan posted an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 34:11.03 in the women's 10,000-meter race. Fagan obliterated the previous Dartmouth record of 36:47.28, set during the 1989 season by Pamela Crandall '88.
With her record-breaking time, Fagan joined Tom McArdle '03, who turned in a time of 28:18.21 in the men's 10,000-meter race at the Mt. Sac relays. McArdle's time, in addition to breaking the old record of 28:35.68 (held by seven-time All-American Jim Sapienza '85), was the fastest time by an American runner this season.
When asked about the race, Fagan said, "I was really excited to run against such great competition, and once I was in the race, I had no choice but to run fast just to stay in the race. When I saw that I had run 17:10 for the first 5k, I was thrilled because it was a personal record, and I felt like I had a lot left for the second 5k. Once other people started to fade, I felt so good that I just kept picking it up and moving past them."
Fagan's record-breaking time highlighted a strong weekend showing by Dartmouth athletes at both the Penn Relays and the Dartmouth Invitational.
At the Penn Relays, the men's 4 x 400 relay team finished third in the heptagonal section with a time of 3:13.97, and the women's 4 x 800 team turned in a time of 8:59.35, good for sixth in the college division. In the men's 400-meter hurdles, Jeff Guenette '03 posted a time of 53.86, the second best time among Heps athletes this spring.
When asked about the 4 x 400 race, Ahmad Abdur-Rahim '04 said, "The Penn relays are an excellent meet to get good marks. [The event is] especially geared towards the relays, particularly the 4 x 400-meter relay. It's good to know that we ran as fast as we did knowing that we didn't all have our best performances.
Overall, I'm glad we didn't win Penn relays because now we are not satisfied and we will be able to go to Heps hungry, having something to prove. We believe, and I believe in my teammates now its time to come through in the clutch."
The Big Green track and field teams also had strong showings at home at the Dartmouth Invitational, where the men's and women's teams won seven events each.
Joe Marucheck '04 led the men's team with victories in both the triple jump and the long jump. Joining Marucheck with victories were Bob O'Connor '03 in the 200-meters, Jon Carlson '03 in the pole vault, Abdur-Rahim in the long jump, Matt Brown '05 in the shot put and Alex McClure '05 in the javelin throw.
Six Dartmouth women won on the track, including Cecily Garber '03 in the 800-meters, Kristina Ross '05 in the 200-meters and Nancy Unsworth '04 in the 3,000-meters. Renee DeLellis '05 and Caitlin Sherry '05 were victorious for Dartmouth in the hurdles, winning the 100-meter and 400-meter races, respectively. In the field events, Marianne Hall '03 took first in the long jump.
With a weekend of strong performances behind them, the Dartmouth men's and women's teams now turn to the Heptagonal Championships. This year will mark the debut of the John Baxter Taylor Trophy, which will be awarded to the Ivy League Men's Heptagonal Team Champion.
No one can be sure who will earn this fledgling yet prestigious award named after the first African-American international competitior, but everyone is sure to be fired up for the always challenging and exciting Heps.
