Dartmouth's men's and women's track teams competed with mixed results in the Terrier Classic at Boston University last weekend.
This was an individual meet with no team scores assessed or assigned.
The meet mainly served as an opportunity for the Big Green to face national-level competition, improve running times and develop experience on a larger scale.
Overall, the men and women are improving their times, though fatigue may have affected performances in Terrier Classic.
"We ran better in the Yale meet than we did yesterday, the athletes seemed tired from events done earlier in the meets," head coach Barry Harwick '77 said. "[It was] an okay performance, not an outstanding one."
The focus of the season will now be on preparation for the Heptagonal championship meet, which will take place in the beginning of March.
At the Terrier Classic, the women's field athletes continue to impress with their feats in both the throw and shot put portions of their meets.
In the weight throw, Jessica Long '08, Emily Daly '09 and Stephanie Rauner '08 finished first, second and sixth with distances of 15.48m, 15.17 meters and 13.03 meters, respectively. Daly and Long also finished in the top five in the shot put event finishing third and fifth.
The women's track athletes had some noteworthy performances. Natalie Todd-Zebell '09 finished second in the pole vault with a height of 11'11.75" feet. In the same event, Erika Graham '08 came in with a height of 10'6" feet.
In the 500 meter race, Natalie Stoll '10 and Kaleigh Wood '11 had impressive performances coming in 10th and 13th respectively. In the 1000 meter run, Lauren Campfield '11 came in fifth place with a time of 2 minutes and 58.46 seconds.
The men's performances were unremarkable with the exception of an outstanding performance by Mike Carmody '08 in the 800 meter. Carmody finished with a time of 1:49:58, good enough for third out of 96.
"I was very happy for [Carmody]," head coach Barry Hardwick '77 said. "For him to run one of the fastest times in the country was very impressive, he's clearly in the best shape he's ever been in."
Carmody had been injured for most of last year and has recovered to his previous form as a top-notch runner.
"Carmody has run the fastest time in the Ivy League thus far this season and that should be good enough to get him into the NCAA championships as well," Harwick expressed with obvious excitement.
Harry Norton '08 also ran impressively in the 3000m run, finishing seventh with a time of 8:10.91.
"[This season] was his best time by 16 seconds, he competed very well, I'm happy with how well things are going for him," Harwick noted.
Norton won the Dartmouth Relays event with a time of 8:26 which, by track standards, is considered a large difference in such a short time.
For Harwick, getting this kind of experience was key for the team to grow and mature.
"[We were] running against people from all over the country competing against different tams," he said. "There was an exciting atmosphere and we wanted to take advantage of that."
BU's facilities played a role in the performance of the Dartmouth team this weekend. Leverone is a flat track, and the turns are flat as well. In comparison, Boston University's turnarounds are banked.
"[The embankments] the runners go faster, help to maintain momentum around the turn and help to maintain their speed better," Harwick said. "[It was] a good learning experience, particularly for the younger folks, it's a beautiful facility to run in."
The Big Green will compete in the Dartmouth Classic at Leverone Fieldhouse this upcoming weekend.
Harwick is looking forward to putting on a strong performance in front of a home crowd.
"[It should be] a fun meet to have at home, we're looking forward to moving people around in events," he said.
Events start at noon on Saturday, Feb. 2.
