The combined might of the men's and women's indoor track teams took the road this past weekend to open the Ivy League season. Both teams competed in a tri-meet against Yale and Columbia at New Haven.
The men and women's meets paralleled each other, both finishing well behind Yale and comfortably ahead of Columbia. The women managed 53 points to Yale's 97 and Columbia's 31 while the men mustered 62 points, as Yale and Columbia had 93 and 14 respectively.
Leading the way for the Big Green women were two sophomores who both took gold in two events. Mattie Chatterton-Richmond '06 cruised in the long jump and the 55 hurdles, jumping 18-1 1/4 and covering the hurdles in 8.71 seconds.
While not overly ecstatic about her long jump, claiming it was just a "solid second meet performance," Chatterton-Richmond was clearly happy with her result and her time in the hurdles.
"The hurdles felt great," she said. "I haven't had a smooth race for so long. It was what I needed to boost my confidence."
Jamila Smith '06 was the other sophomore carrying the load for the Big Green, winning the 20 lb. weight throw as well as the shot put. Her effort of 55-11 1/4 was an ECAC qualifying throw as well as a personal record.
After a strong freshman season, Jamila is fast closing in on the school record of 56-8 3/4, set by Sarah Hayes '01 in 2001. Her heave this past weekend is the second longest in school history.
Despite losing to Yale, Chatterton-Richmond remained optimistic that the rest of the season would show improvement.
"At the moment we have a lot of really talented athletes that are injured or are just getting back into track after a few months," she said. "I have faith that we will get it together for Heps."
Sarah Rhodes '05 shared a similar sentiment, while warning that a lot of work lies ahead.
"I think the team did well in the field events and pretty well in the sprints," she added, "but we have a lot of improvement to make in the distance races. More than anything the meet showed us how hard we are going to have to work for every point at Heps."
The men were led by a trio of seniors and a freshman, who all won in their respective events. Joe Marucheck '03 continued the fast start to his season by winning the long jump in 21-10 1/2.
He admitted that distance was the furthest thing from his mind going into this meet, only gaining points for the team. Astonishingly, he only needed to use one of his attempts to this end.
Robert Kerris '07 competing in and winning his first Ivy League meet. He took the shot put by throwing 50-3 1/4, a personal record.
"It was pretty exciting," he said. "Even though it was only a triangular meet, it was still really exciting to get a win."
Twin seniors Mustafa and Ahmad Abdur-Rahim '04 both took home gold, with Mustafa winning the 55 hurdles in 7.62 while Ahmad took the 400 in a time of 51.44 seconds.
Despite missing much of the distance team, many positive results came out of the weekend, especially in the field events.
"The team performed well and I think most people were happy with their performances," Kerris said. "Of course, we would have liked to beat Yale, but it was still a good team effort."
The track teams returns to action on Saturday, Jan. 24, hosting the Dartmouth Invitational in Leverone Field House. The meet kicks off at noon.
