Dartmouth athletes from the men and women's track teams competed outstandingly, both at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia and an invitational that Dartmouth hosted at Memorial Field, in a final tune-up for the Heptagonal Championships next weekend.
The most notable performance of the weekend belongs to the women's 4 x 1500m relay team, which broke the school record by nearly 10 seconds. The team of Cecily Garber '03, Megan Malgeri '03, Megan Olds '06 and Jesse Allen-Young '03 finished in 17:56.57, over the old mark of 18:06.05.
Also topping off an action-packed weekend were swift times by Dartmouth distance runners that qualified Joe Shaw '03, Mark Nichol '04 and Kristin Andrews '03 for the NCAA Regional Meet on May 31.
Shaw turned a 9:11.01 in the 3000m steeplechase, while Nichol and Andrews ran 14:18.58 and 16:59.78, respectively, in the 5000m.
Those athletes not at Penn also enjoyed success this past weekend. Athletes from the men's and women's teams took first in several events at home, both on the track and in the field.
For the men, Tyler Haney '03 took first in the 200 with a time of 21.72, edging out freshman Ikechi Ogbanna's second place time of 22.45. Ogbanna, however, outperformed competitors in two events himself.
Ogbanna's first-place time of 10.92 in the 100m dash was a lean ahead of teammate Richard Efem's 10.95 finish. Ogbanna also leapt to an impressive win in the triple jump, jumping 44-4 _ to take first place honors.
Matt Brown '05 led a Dartmouth sweep of the first three places in the discus, throwing the discus a distance of 146-10 1/2. Mike Mozer '05 took second in the shot and discus.
For the women, Marianne Hall '03 took dual honors in the long jump and the triple jump, with marks of 16-8 1/2 and 36-5 1/2, respectively.
In the sprints on the track, Caitlin Sherry '05 won the 400 hurdles in 1:09.44; Shaina Damm '02 won the 100m hurdles and 400m dash, with times of 14.73 and 57.52. Also, the 4x400m relay team won, clocking 4:10.37 in the 4-lap event. For women's distance, Sara Lewicke '06 the 1500m in 4:44.50.
The Big Green will travel to Yale University next weekend to compete in one of the biggest meets of the season, the Heptagonal Championships, where they will face all teams in the Ivy League and Navy.
