The Dartmouth men's and women's indoor track teams continued to impress this weekend, as the Big Green squads won their first tri-meet of the season by demolishing local rivals University of New Hampshire and University of Vermont at Leverone Field House in Hanover. It was a particularly strong showing by the Big Green early in a lengthy winter and spring season.
On the men's side, the Big Green scored 183.5 points to win the meet by a comfortable margin. New Hampshire came in second with 112.5 points and Vermont finished with 60 points. The Big Green men finished no worse than second in any event, demonstrating the team's balance.
The Dartmouth women won their meet by scoring 144.5 points. The Wildcats of New Hampshire finished runners-up with 120 points, and the Catamounts of Vermont finished the day with 94.5 points.
Dartmouth did well in the distance events, despite the fact that key runners Harry Norton '08 and Mike Carmody '08 were not competing. The Big Green dominated the 3,000 -meter run by taking the first five places, with Grant Allen '08 leading the way (8:40.08 seconds).
The most notable performances came in the sprints and on the field. The Big Green dominated the 60m hurdles, taking the first four places. Pete Piderman '10 was the winner in the hurdles (8.54). Brian Evans '08 was a double winner in the 60m dash (7.12) and the 200m dash (22.95).
Randy McKnight '08 was also a double winner on the day, winning the triple jump (45-03.75) and the long jump (21-02.00). Captain Rob Kerris '07 emerged victorious in both the shot put (50-11.00) and the weight throw (55-11.25), and Andrew Ching '10 won the high jump (6-02.00).
Charlie Stoebe '08 won the 500m dash (1:04.89) and qualified for the IC4A championships, a premier meet among ECAC member schools.
Although Stoebe was pleased with his performance, he maintained that he will keep up the hard work to get his times down further.
"I was definitely pleased with my performance today. I was just .04 off of my PR, so it would have been nice to PR, but I was happy. Hopefully with more training, I can get down to sub-1:04 by the end of the year," Stoebe said.
Head coach Barry Harwick '77 was happy with his team's progress thus far in the season after the weekend meet.
"We were able to score in every single event, and there was a lot of team spirit with people cheering for each other. I've also been very pleased with the team's work ethic," Harwick said.
Unlike the men, the women did not have many first-place finishes but were able to score points in every event. The Big Green placed multiple athletes in the top six in every non-relay event except the 60m dash and the mile run.
Jamila Smith '06 had a big day, winning both the weight throw (50 feet-11.05 inches) and the shot put (43-09.25). Other winners on the day included Sarah Klassen '10, Lizzy Wild '08 and Natalie Todd-Zebell '09 in the high jump (5-04), 800m run (2:23.06 seconds), and pole vault (12-00), respectively.
Other notable performances on the day included Caitlin Cunningham '09, who was just two-tenths of a second behind Wild in the 800m (2:23.25); Kristin Ricci '08, a second-place finisher in the 1,000m (3:07.03) and Lauren Moser '08, who was runner-up in the 3,000m (10:44.3).
The newcomers had a big influence on the meet along with the veterans. Aside from Klassen winning the high jump, Shawna Foulkes '10 was second in the 400m (1:01.74) and Natalie Stoll '10 was second in the 500m (1:20.29).
"I was happy to see that we scored in every event today and got the victory," said women's head coach Sandy Ford-Centonze. "Times dropped on the track and distances improved in the field, so I feel good about the meet. We have Columbia and Yale next week in an important league meet, so we'll be preparing for that meet."
Both Big Green teams travel to Coxe Cage in New Haven, Conn., on Sunday, Jan. 21 to take on Yale and Columbia in a key league showdown.
