"The relays are a pretty spectacular meet," Alex Tanner '11 said. "The sheer amount of bodies present can definitely be overwhelming, but the excitement in the air is contagious. For whatever reason, this was probably the most excited I've ever been before a race. The competition is fierce and, in my opinion, well worth the eight-hour drive."
Tanner's nerves calmed late on Thursday afternoon when she turned in a blistering 54.07 second time for the third leg in the 4x400 women's championship event. The team made up of Tanner, Elizabeth Garland '13, Christina Supino '12 and anchored by senior captain, Natalie Stoll '10 set a school record in the event with a time of 3:48.41.
Despite eclipsing the record set in 2008 by a full second, the Dartmouth quartet left the track unsatisfied after finding itself at the bottom in a field of seven Ivy League rivals.
"I completely expected us to run the time that we ran," Tanner said. "What I never expected was for us to run that time and still end up last in our heat I think we were all pretty surprised about that outcome."
It was the first time that the entire Ivy League field clocked in at under 3:50, according to Tanner.
Cornell University, Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania had already separated themselves from the pack by the third leg. The Big Red fended off a final-lap Lions charge to take first place with a time of 3:41.43.
"We, luckily, have a lot of room for improvement over the next few weeks," Tanner said. "Our lead leg is actually recovering from an injury, so it was awesome that she could even run in the first place. As long as we all run the races we know we can, we're looking at dropping around three or more seconds on our time, which puts us pretty high up in the rankings."
Two days later, Stoll and Supino joined Laura Tabor '10 and Amy Schuman '12 to earn a second-place finish in the 4x800 relay with a time of 8:52.66.
On the men's side, Dartmouth posted solid performances in the distance events.
Chris Zablocki '10 toed the finish line just under the 30-minute mark to finish in eighth place in the 10K race late on Thursday.
In the 5K race, Brad Kenimer '12 posted a personal record clocking in at 14:24.20 for the top spot in his heat.
Kenimer slipped past Tyler McCandless of Pennsylvania State University, seizing the lead with one lap remaining in the race.
David Irving '11 produced Dartmouth's top effort on the field, according to men's head coach Barry Harwick, with a fourth place finish. In the discus event, Irving threw a personal best of 51.38 meters.
While Irving fell short of his personal best of 57.57 meters in the hammer throw posting a distance of 53.33 meters he did manage to squeak by touted Harvard senior Jack Brady.
Even though the Relays challenged Darmtouth, the Big Green capitalized on the heightened sense of competition and will now use this experience as a prelude for the upcoming championships, Harwick said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth.
"The Penn Relays are the biggest track meet in the world," he said. "To be part of them, and to compete well there is very important to our program. We came home from Philadelphia feeling very good both about the meet and our outlook for the upcoming championships."
Representing the women on the field, Emmaline Berg '13 also made her mark with a 13.71-meter launch that earned her a fifth-place finish in the shot put Eastern championships.
Javelin thrower Jim Budzinski '14, a Big Green men's track and field recruit, showed promise as he surpassed his previous record to earn a third-place finish in the high school boys championship.
Dartmouth travels south next weekend for the Princeton Elite Meet as a final tune-up before the Outdoor Heptagonal Championships, held during the second weekend in May.
