The Outdoor Ivy League Heptagonal Championships is the culmination of Dartmouth track and field. With the academic year drawing to a close and most seniors staring into the face of life without organized athletics, the members of the Ancient Eight gather one last time to determine which among them is the best.
Following a lackluster performance in the Indoor Heptagonal Championships, many brushed Dartmouth aside. The smallest of the Ivies, the Big Green often fields track teams that pale in comparison the armies that rivals Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania muster. Coming into the spring season, Dartmouth College was an afterthought.
However, this perception proved short-lived.
As the Hanover days grew longer, the Big Green slowly came alive. Sparked by successes in Arizona during spring break, Dartmouth tore through its schedule. From the University of Connecticut to Brown, UNH and back at home, the Big Green reinvented itself, defeating Harvard, Yale and Brown along the way.
Still, it all comes down to the Heps. A poor performance can erase two-and-a-half months of success. In other words, when Dartmouth arrived at Brown Stadium this past weekend, it had something to prove. Now, the Big Green can let its actions speak for themselves.
Dartmouth dominated the decathlon and heptathlon en route to a fourth place finish on the men's side and a hard-fought seventh place for the women. Both the Cornell men and women won the overall competition. Sean Furey '04 set the tone for the two-day competition in the opening event, breaking his own Dartmouth record in the javelin. With a throw of 234-3, Furey finished second overall behind defending NCAA champion Brian Chaput of the University of Pennsylvania.
The Abdur-Rahim twins -- '04s Ahmad and Mustafa -- finished third and fourth, respectively in the long jump, while Mattie Chatterton-Richmond '06 took third in the female version of the same event. Dave Burnham '06 was fifth in the 10,000 meters, finishing in a time of 30:58.31.
On day two, the Big Green turned in an even stronger performance. Andrew Hall '05 totaled 7,043 points in the first decathlon ever contested at the Heptagonal Championships, cruising to a comfortable win. Kelsey Wiegmann '06, who finished first in the decathlon, did not have it so easy.
Going into the last of the decathlon's seven events, the 800 meters, Wiegmann found herself down by 11 points. With Chatterton-Richmond pacing her, the embattled sophomore moved into first place, finishing with 4,923 points.
"Mattie was without a doubt responsible for pacing me in the 800," Wiegmann said, "so I can't thank her enough for that. The one great thing about our team is that we never give up."
Two weeks after an impressive showing at the Penn Relays, Brian McCarthy '05 also came out a winner. The talented junior cleared 6-9 1/2 to win his first Heps title, though even he could not avoid a little drama.
"I was able to come through on a couple third attempt jumps to stay in the competition," McCarthy commented. "Then I cleared the final height on my first attempt to put the pressure on the rest of the field."
Among other notable efforts, Jarrod Shoemaker '04 finished second in the 5,000 meters. Mustafa Abdur-Rahim also nabbed a second place finish, missing the 110 meter hurdles championship by two one-hundredths.
Dartmouth has every reason to be proud following last weekend's performance. The Big Green established itself once more as a player in the Ivy League.
"For the short term, I think we have an excellent chance to have some of our athletes achieve All-American honors at the NCAA meet in June," men's head coach Barry Harwick said. "For the long term, with a strong recruiting class coming in, I expect us to move higher in the team score next year."
With Heptagonal Championships over with, the Big Green resumes action at the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships today, in New Haven, Conn.
