The Dartmouth men's and women's track and field teams took to the outdoors this weekend at the Arizona State University Invitational in Tempe, Ariz. Although the match did not have an overall team score, several Big Green athletes had top-10 finishes.
This invitational marked the transition from the indoor season to the outdoor season for both teams. It also presented the opportunity for a fresh start after the men's team earned eighth place out of eight teams and the women's team placed sixth out of eight at the indoor Heps Championships during the last weekend of February.
"The transition was not bad, but it's pretty different from practicing indoor all the time to going to Arizona where it's 80 degrees and sunny," Ted Lesher '10 said. "Everyone was ready, especially since we were pretty disappointed with our performance at the indoor Heps Championship."
The women's track and field team posted more top-10 finishes than the men's team this weekend.
Emily Daly '09 did well in both the hammer throw and the shot put. She placed fifth in the hammer throw with tosses of of 57.39 meters in both the preliminaries and the final. She also placed 10th in the shot put event with a throw of 13.66 meters in the final.
Alexandra Tanner '11 achieved an NCAA regional qualifying time in the 400-meter hurdles by placing fourth with a time of 1:00.56.
Tanner was also a member of the Dartmouth women's 4x400 meter relay team, which came in third place. The relay team also included Christina Supino '12, junior captain Natalie Stoll '10 and Kaleigh Wood '11. The group finished with a total time of 3:46.42, while Texas A&M University took first with a time of 3:38.02.
Stoll also placed eighth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 57.55 seconds.
Supino came in eighth place in the 800-meter run, crossing the line with a time of 2:15.90.
Other top-10 finishes for the women included Sarah Klassen '10, who came in sixth in the high jump with a mark of 1.65 meters, Jaclyn Wypler '11, who finished ninth with a javelin throw of 42.39 meters, Natalie Todd-Zebell '09, who earned 10th place in the pole-vault competition after clearing the bar at 3.55 meters, and Lauren Campfield '11, who also placed 10th in the 1500-meter run with a time of 4:41.33.
Lesher led the men's team as the only male to achieve two top-10 finishes. He finished fourth in the triple jump finals with a mark of 14.43 meters, trailing Jason Smith of Colorado State, who jumped 14.78 meters.
Lesher said he was excited about his improved placement in this event.
"I had a frustrating indoor season in triple jump, so this mark was really satisfying." Lesher said. "Hopefully, I can carry it through the season."
Lesher also competed in the 110-meter hurdles, and earned ninth place with a time of 15.41 seconds.
He broke a personal record in that event, and said he hopes to continue improving in the hurdles as the season progresses.
"I had a really good indoor season in [the hurdles], so hopefully I can drop my PR in that even more," Lesher said.
Also excelling in jumps, Mike Poppler '10 scored a sixth-place finish in the long jump, as he hit the pit at 6.99 meters, just 0.42 meters short of first place.
The Big Green male throwers also had some success, as three placed in the top 10 during the weekend.
Tim Wunderlich '09 started out his senior outdoor season with a 59.12-meter throw in the javelin. Another Dartmouth thrower, Chris Roe '11, also placed in the javelin with a toss of 55.93 meters. Both trailed Ryan Whiting of ASU, who finished with a throw of 57.14 meters.
"I think the meet went pretty well," Lesher said. "We had a lot of good performances on both the men and women's side. It's good to start off the season at the ASU Invitational because there is really good competition there."
The men's and women's track and field teams are both back in action this weekend at the Princeton Invitational, starting on Friday, April 3, in Princeton, N.J. Dartmouth will face competition from other Ivy League schools at the meet.
"I'm pretty excited about it -- it's good to compete against people you'll be seeing at Ivy League competitions," Lesher said. "We have to try to stay focused, get good marks early on, and try to create some momentum for the rest of the season."
