The men's and women's track teams finished in similar places at the Heptagonal meet, the Ivy League's championship meet, at the Armory in New York City last weekend. For the men, who finished seventh with 30 points, it was a disappointing end to a season that started out well.
On the other hand, the women's team that finished sixth with 48 points, narrowed the gap against the rest of the Ivy League. The women improved one place from last year's finish, and were just eight points out of fourth place.
As for the team title, the Cornell Big Red barely missed sweeping both the men's and women's championships. Princeton claimed the men's crown with 154 points, edging out Cornell by just three points. On the women's side, Cornell destroyed the competition with a team score of 159, more than twice that of the next best competitor, Brown.
The Big Red women have now won six Heptagonal championships in a row, and have cemented the team's place as the top program in the Ivy League.
Individually, Columbia's senior Erison Hurtault made history by winning the 400m dash for the fourth consecutive year. Hurtault also broke the meet record with a time of 46.34 seconds.
For the Big Green men, the meet results were disappointing considering some of the strong performances earlier in the year. Dartmouth also suffered from numerous injuries at the most critical juncture in the season. Some notables who did not compete this weekend include Alec Wall '07 and Mike Carmody '08, defending champions in the 5,000m run and 800m run, respectively.
Men's track and field coach Barry Harwick '77 expressed his disappointment in the team results, but highlighted several strong individual performances.
"I thought our field event athletes, Alex Lippai '09 and Randy McKnight '08 in particular, did very well. On the track, Harry Norton '08, who has had a tough year, ran well. Charlie Stoebe '08 scored in the 500m dash, and Trevor Middleton '09 and Pat Dooley '08 had good performances. The seventh place finish was a little disappointing, but with all of the injuries that we've had this season, it's been tough," Harwick said.
The Big Green men found the going tough on the track, as they were only able to score in two events. Norton had a fourth-place finish in the mile run with a time of 4:12.53, and Stoebe finished in fifth with a time of 1:04.65. Middleton and Dooley ran well in the 800m and 5,000m, respectively, but failed to earn any points.
In the field, a pair of third-place finishes aided the Big Green cause. Lippai finished third in the weight throw by hurling 54-09.25, and McKnight was third in the triple jump with a leap of 49-02.5.
For the women, their struggles to score points on the track persisted, but the team saw some inspired performances in the field.
The inability of the runners to score points, a persistent issue for the team, did not go away at Heps. The Big Green women did not score a single point in individual events on the track with the exception of the 60m hurdles. Cassandre Tanner '08 turned in a fifth-place finish in the hurdles with a time of 9.16 seconds, and Victoria Michelotti '08 barely missed scoring with a time of 9.22 seconds, placing her in seventh. With her time, Tanner broke Michelotti's school record.
In the field, two seniors competing in the indoor Heptagonal meet for the last time led the charge for the Big Green, with Jamila Smith '06 in the shot put and the weight throw, and Lily Bertz '07 in the pole vault.
For the throws, the duo of Smith and Jessie Long '08 performed admirably in he meet. Smith won the shot put with a throw of 46-02.75, beating out Penn's Shani Boston for the Big Green's lone victory in the meet.
Long placed fifth in the shot put, but her result was not available at press time. Smith and Long came back with strong performances in the weight throw. Smith earned second-place honors in the weight throw with a heave of 53-01.75, followed by Long who finished third with a throw of 52-02.5.
In the pole vault, which has been a strong event for the Big Green all year, Bertz took second-place honors by clearing 12-01.5 feet, her best jump on the season. Natalie Todd-Zebell '09 also factored into the scoring with a jump of 11-09.75, good enough for sixth.
Women's head coach Sandy Ford-Centonze was pleased with the team's performances.
"This is just about what I expected, since I was hoping that we would end up in the middle of the pack," Ford-Centonze said. "We were only two points outside of fifth and eight points outside of fourth, so it was a very tight meet. Smith and Long performed very well in the throws, and I was excited about Tanner and Michelotti, because they will be returning for another year."
Next week, several of Dartmouth's top performers will be moving on to the IC4A Championships at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston, Mass. Only those who have made the IC4A standard times or distances will be competing.
