The men's team finished fourth out of eight teams with 50 points, while the women's team came in eighth with 34. On the men's side, Cornell took the title, dominating the field with 205 points, 56 points ahead of second-place Princeton. For the women, Princeton claimed its first title since 1998 with a seven-point victory over Brown, 114 to 107. The win for the Tigers snapped Cornell's six-year winning streak.
Men's head coach Barry Harwick '77 was pleased with his team's performance, since his team, led by its senior class, performed as he had expected.
"I was pretty satisfied, I was very happy we finished fourth as a team," Harwick said. "That was about the number of points I thought we would score. After the meet you always go back and look at a few spots you could have picked up points, but we were close to third and, by and large, very pleased with the performance."
For Dartmouth, Mike Carmody '08 won the 800-meter run at this meet for the second time in his career with a time of one minute and 51.86 seconds. The distance medley team of Carmody, Charlie Stoebe '08, Trevor Middleton '09 and Harry Norton '08 also scored a victory for the Big Green.
Norton also came in second in the 3,000-meter run, losing by less than one second to Princeton's Michael Maag.
"Pretty much all of the point scorers were senior class, which shows how valuable experience is when you get to championship meets," Harwick said. "Carmody is a great example of that, he had the fastest times coming in so he ran with a great deal of confidence, and I think he intimidated the competition a little bit."
In the sprints, Brian Evans '08 took fourth in the 60-meter dash with a time of 4.96 seconds, and Stoebe finished fourth in the 500-meter dash with a time of 1:05.46. Randy McKnight '08 also had a strong performance, finishing fourth in the triple jump with a leap of 14.79 meters.
Tyler Koskenoja '07 continued Dartmouth's tradition of excellence in the heptathlon with a third-place finish. His score of 5337 points was also earned the NCAA provisional mark. Koskenoja, along with Carmody and Norton who also met the provisional standard, will await word from the NCAA to see if they have been selected to compete in the national championship.
Dartmouth's women did not compete as well as the team might have hoped, but several Big Green athletes had notable performances, particularly in the field events.
"Obviously coming in eighth is not where anyone wants to be, but I thought there was light at the end of the tunnel," women's track and field head coach Sandy Ford-Centonze said. "Everybody has been constantly upping their distances and lowering their times, but where that doesn't show is the scoreboard. I have to look at it as small victories."
In the weight throw finals, Jessica Long '08 and Emily Daly '09 finished second and third, respectively. Long threw 17.41 meters, while Daily threw 16.73 meters. Natalie Todd-Zebell '09 had a strong performance in the pole vault, coming in third with a jump of 3.75 meters. Sarah Klassen '10 finished fourth in the high jump with a jump of 1.67 meter.
On the track, Victoria Michelotti '08 broke the record for the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 9.04. The 4x400-meter relay and 4x800 meter relays ran times of 3:53.88 and 9:07.54, respectively. The 4x400-meter team finished fifth, and the 4x800-meter team finished sixth.
While a number of Big Green athletes on both the men's and women's squads qualified for the Eastern College Athletic Conference meet, many of them will not be competing.
The ECAC meet coincides with Dartmouth's exam period, and both coaches have decided to allow the athletes to focus on academics.
"For a lot of athletes we're going to make the transition to outdoor track," Harwick said. "For three athletes on the team -- Carmody, Norton, Koskenoja, have met the NCAA provisional standards, so we'll find out in a week if they made it into the field. If those three can go, we'll be very happy but for everyone else now is a great time to get some rest and let them get to class for the last week."
Both squads are optimistic as they head into the outdoor season.
On the men's side, several key athletes will return this Spring, including Ben True '08, a former Heptagonal champion and an all-American.
"Indoor's still going on but we're very excited about outdoor track," Harwick said. "On the men's side, we're dramatically stronger outdoors. There are events that are not contested indoors like the decatholon, javelin and discus and we are very good at those events. I fully expect our lineup to be stronger in the spring."
