Members of the men's and women's track and field teams had a successful Valentine's Invitational at Boston University this weekend, with Ethan Shaw '12 and Connor Reilly '13 leading the Big Green with tight second-place finishes.
"We take our runners to the Valentine's meet to give them a chance to run a fast race prior to our final training for [Heptagonals]," head coach Barry Harwick said. "Things worked out well this year as several athletes had their fastest races of the season."
For the men, the meet was highlighted by Shaw's performance in the 5000-meter run the sophomore clocked in at 14:26.08 to place second behind Daniel Murner of Amherst College, who finished with a time of 14:24.22.
"The race went very well," Shaw said. "The field wasn't as deep as it was two weeks ago so I decided to race and go for the win. I got outkicked, but it was still a really good tune-up for Heps."
At the Jan. 29-30 Terrier Classic, also held at BU, Shaw ran a 14:25.36 in the 5000-meter race for the second-best time posted in the Ivy League so far this season.
Reilly continued his dominance in the short sprints this weekend with a second-place finish in the 55-meter dash. He posted a time of 6.44 seconds, followed closely by Big Green co-captain Muhammed Abdul-Shakoor '10 who finished in third at 6.46 seconds.
Currently holding the school record in the 60-meter dash, Reilly is also ranked first in the Ivy League. Abdul-Shakoor trails Reilly, ranking second in the Ivy League.
The order flipped for the 200-meter standings, with Abdul-Shakoor ranked first among Ivy foes while Reilly comes in second.
Reilly and Abdul-Shakoor also qualified for the upcoming event with their performances in the 200-meter dash.
The rest of the men's team also performed well, posting multiple qualifying times for the IC4A/ECAC meet, which will be held during the weekend of March 6.
Phil Royer '13 and Brad Kenimer '12 qualified in the 3,000-meter run while John Turro '12 and Dwayne Alexis '11 qualified in the 1,000-meter race.
After their results this weekend, Matt Miner '12 will race the mile and John Schroeder '10 will compete in the five-kilometer race at the IC4A meet.
After its performance at the Valentine's Invitational, the Big Green men's squad is confident going into Heps, according to Shaw.
"A lot of people on our team ran well, which will hopefully lead to some scoring performances in two weeks," Shaw said.
The women's team also saw success with certain individuals earning qualifying times for the ECAC meet.
Posting the best finish for the Dartmouth women, shot-putter Emmaline Berg '13 finished second at the meet with a throw of 13.21 meters. Berg, however, did not surpass her own season best with the throw.
"My performance was not as good as I hoped," Berg said. "I knew I wouldn't be able to beat the girl from UMass-Lowell, though, so I was happy I just kept my seed."
Berg also qualified for the ECAC meet and is ranked fourth in the Ivy League in the shot put.
"As for the season in general, I couldn't really ask for anything more," Berg said. "I didn't expect to come out on top in most of the meets, let alone be the top thrower on the team."
In the 5,000-meter run, Lizzie Short '12 and Monica Hernandez '10 finished third and fourth, respectively.
Their respective times of 17:11.46 and 17:12.95 qualified both of them for the ECAC meet. Other individual qualifiers included Laura Tabor '10 in the mile, Andrea Imhof '11 in the 1000-meter run and captain Natalie Stoll '10 in the 400-meter dash.
The Dartmouth women's 4x400-meter relay and distance medley relay teams also qualified for the meet.
"The Valentine's meet is always somewhat of a circus, with thousands of competitors," women's head coach Sandy Ford-Centonze said. "The team performed extremely well under somewhat challenging circumstances."
Trying to build momentum from the Invitational, both teams will send runners to the USA Track and Field meet at Harvard University before Dartmouth hosts the Ivy Heptagonal Championships Feb. 27-28.
