Eight athletes will compete at the NCAA regional meet this weekend with hopes of earning the right to compete at nationals early next month. Several of the athletes that have led the scoring for the Big Green all season have qualified to run, jump and throw against the East's best at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, N.C., this Friday and Saturday.
The men will look to Fatih Stanley '06, Ivy champion and school-record holder in the 100 and 200 meters, to continue his strong performance in his specialties.
Stanley's wins in the 100 and 200 at the Heptagonal (Ivy League) Championships were historic. It was the first time a Dartmouth athlete had ever won the 200 at Heps, in addition to being the first win in the 100 for Dartmouth in nearly 45 years.
Ben True '08, the reigning Ivy and New England champion in the 1500 meters, and Harry Norton '08, a constant presence close behind True, will run for Dartmouth in their best event.
Norton and True were both part of a record-setting distance medley relay at the Penn Relays earlier in the season. True anchored the relay with a 3:57.76 time, roughly equivalent to a sub-four-minute mile and better than the school record in the flat 1500 with no moving relay start.
"I would say the biggest highlight for the men would be [Stanley's] double win and school record performances at Heps," men's head coach Barry Harwick '77 said. "That would be closely followed by the school record in the distance medley at the Penn Relays with [True's] amazing anchor."
Ikechi Ogbonna '06, Ivy champion in the 60-meter hurdles during the indoor season, will compete in the longer outdoor 110 hurdles for the men.
Kelsey Wiegmann '06 will lead the way for the women. A multi-event star who is the Ivy champion and school record-holder in the javelin, will look to excel in her best event. Wiegmann will also compete in the high jump with teammate Tara McNerney '09, who took third in the event at Heps.
Wiegmann holds the school record in the high jump after breaking the record earlier in the season at the University of New Hampshire Invitational. She also bettered her school-best javelin mark at the meet.
Melanie Schorr '06 will continue her string of strong runs in the 5,000 meters, coming off a runner-up performance in the event against her Ivy brethren.
Schorr ran in the mile at the Boston High Performance Meet held at Bentley College last Sunday as a final tune-up for her regional race, finishing second with a 4:57.10 run. A handful of other Dartmouth distance athletes competed at the meet as well in a final culmination of their season.
Also competing for the Lady Green at NCAA regionals, Jamila Smith '06, the Ivy champion in the shot put, will look to throw further than ever this weekend.
"I think they can all do well," Harwick said. "On paper it looks like Ben True and Kelsey Wiegmann have the best chance to advance to the [national meet]."
The team has had a productive season, with both the men's and women's squads improving upon their finishes at indoor Heps over the course of the short spring season.
The men improved from sixth to fifth in the Ivy League after outdoor Heps, and the women from seventh to sixth, as Dartmouth produced champions on both squads in the process.
Several school records were also broken as Stanley had his historic runs, Wiegmann broke her own record in the heptathlon and Mattie Chatterton-Richmond '06 set a new standard in the triple jump.
Much of the spring season saw times and distances hindered by poor conditions, as New England's volatile weather left many meets unseasonably cold or wet. During the one weekend that Dartmouth saw good weather, however, many athletes excelled at the UNH Invitational.
"Our spring wasn't conducive to great or even good performances this year with all of the rain and bad weather," women's head coach Sandra Ford-Centonze said. "The one meet that we did have really good weather saw some stellar performances across the board."
The team will graduate a number of seniors who were strong contributors to this year's team, but the season saw great progress from the Big Green's younger athletes, which bodes well for the future of the program.
"I think we have had an excellent spring," Harwick said. "We have a pretty young team, with the exception of the sprints, and they have developed well so our future is bright."
