The men's team finished in fifth with an overall score of 57 points, while the women, with 64 points, took sixth. Both teams saw a wide range of point distribution across different events, and considerably improved their performances from the indoor Heptagonal Championships at the end of Winter term.
In the women's competition, Princeton was the overall winner, taking the title with 153 points. For the men, Cornell came from behind to edge out the Tigers with 165 points.
Alexandra Tanner '11 made history by dominating the 400-meter hurdles in a mere 59.04 seconds. In doing so, she not only stole the win from a ferocious Cornell team by seven-tenths of a second, but also beat Dartmouth's school record by more than a full second. Her time is the third best in Heps history for the event. Because Tanner had already broken the school record during her first meet of the season, she said she felt no pressure to do it again. "My only goal was to do my best," she said.
Tanner said she knew the competition would be intense, as she and her top competitors had very close times all season long, but felt that if everything came together for her she could take the win.
"I was just really happy, and to get the points for my team was great," Tanner said.
Tim Wunderlich '09 showed up big for the men, tallying 6846 points in the decathlon to earn himself second place. Wunderligh finished in first place in the javelin with a throw of 59.69, in second place in the discus and in third place in the 110-meter hurdles.
Dartmouth's Jonathan Essington '09 finished fourth in the decathalon, amassing 6205 points.
Wunderlich also took second in another individual event, the javelin throw, with a 60.34-meter toss.
Barry Harwick, head coach of the men's team, said he was proud of Wunderlich's performance.
"He worked his butt off for the team," he said.
The Dartmouth women made their mark on the heptathlon event. Karen Woolley '09 not only won first in the javelin throw with a toss of 33.5 meters, but also took the top spot in the 800-meter dash and in the 100-meter hurdles. This combination gained her second place in the overall event.
Third-place winner Rachel Pallin '12 followed behind Woolley's 4754 points with 4505 points. Pallin took first in the high jump and second in shotput.
Tom Robbins '11 had another strong showing for the men. His time of 3:49.02 in the 1500-meter run was fast enough to snatch second place in the event.
Muhammed Abdul-Shakoor '10 and Tim Edmonds '09 both had impressive finishes in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, respectively. Abdul-Shakoor clocked in at 10.96 in the 100 to secure third place, and Edmond's 21.84 time in the 200 gave him fifth.
In the women's 4x400-meter relay, a team composed of Naomi Stahl '12, Kaleigh Wood '11, Tanner and Natalie Stoll '10 ran to a sixth-place finish with a time of 3:53.09.
The Big Green also had notable results in the field events. Both the men and women placed in the discus event, as David Irving '11 threw 51.06 meters for fifth place, and Anna Niedbala '12 threw 45.83 meters and landed in third. Niedbala's throw was far enough to earn her a spot in Dartmouth's top-five finishes for the event in history.
Emily Daly '09 made her last Heps appearance a memorable one by winning second in the hammer throw and fourth in the shot put with a 14.19-meter toss.
The women took fifth, sixth and seventh in the high jump event, where Sarah Klassen '10 led the way with her 1.67-meter leap, while Pallin and Jessica Robson '11 followed right behind her. In the triple jump, Ted Lesher '10 spanned 14.92 meters, jumping his way to sixth.
Both male and female coaches said they were proud of their team's performances. Women's team head coach Sandra Ford-Centonze said that the team gave 100 percent.
"I can honestly say that everyone who did compete left everything there on the track," she said.
Harwick noted the fierce competition at the event and said that although it was not a perfect day, the team gave a very strong effort.
"A lot of athletes had their best performance at this meet," he said.
Next up for those qualifiers on the track and field teams is the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships for the women and IC4A Championship for the men. Princeton will host both events this weekend.
