Although no members of the Dartmouth men's and women's track and field teams qualified for the NCAA Championships, the Big Green was well represented at the NCAA Regionals at North Carolina A&T State University this past weekend, sending eight athletes to the outdoor competition.
On the men's side, both Ethan Shaw '12 and Chris Zablocki '10 posted top-25 finishes in the 10,000-meter run.
In exceptionally hot and humid weather, Shaw narrowly missed qualifying for the Championships when he finished in 18th place with a time of 30:54:14 just 40 seconds away from the final qualifying spot. Zablocki finished in 21st with a time of 31:01.84.
Zablocki was pleased with his performance.
"Ethan and I did better than we originally were seeded," he said.
He also attributed some of their success to the fact that they were able to push each other in the race.
"I was really glad that we were both getting to race together," Zablocki said. "I think it helped both of us. We always train together, so we know we can push each other."
The runners' performances were especially impressive because 17 of the 47 competitors in the race dropped out due to the heat and exhaustion.
"Their performances were spectacular," teammate David Irving '11 said. "Other runners were dropping like flies."
In the field events, captain Ted Lesher '10 led the way for the team, placing 32nd in the triple jump with a mark of 14.96 meters. Irving competed on Saturday in the discus throw, but registered an unimpressive finish. Alex Lippai TH'10 also had a disappointing finish in the hammer throw, tossing 53.62 meters.
Despite his poor finish, Irving said he was pleased with his performance.
"I had the best technical meet I did all year," he said. "At the same time, I had one of the lowest distances of all year. I made some adjustments in the middle of the meet, and I was pleased with the changes that I made and how I competed, even though I couldn't quite pull it together."
Phil Royer '13 competed in the steeplechase, finishing at the back of the pack.
On the women's side, Alexandra Tanner '11 placed 28th overall in the 400-meter hurdles with a season-best time of 59.55 seconds, while Christina Supino '12 finished the 800-meter run in a time of 2:09.91 to take 34th place.
Although disappointed that they did not qualify for the Championships, Supino found the experience both fun and educational.
"It was a really good experience to go," she said. "I'm still relatively young, so [Regionals] set me up really well to see what it takes to not just get to the finals there but to get to Nationals and to see how everything works and not be so afraid."
She explained that she suffered from a lack of confidence while at the competition.
"I think if I had gone into the race a little bit more confident I could have done better," Supino said. "I was running against [Louisiana State University], and it was really intimidating, and it was hard not to doubt myself."
Tanner said she was not completely pleased with her performance.
"I would've preferred to do a little better than I did," she said. "I'm never satisfied with my result, and it was also a bummer because I just missed making it to the finals."
Supino said she is looking forward to next year and is very excited to see how the women's team can improve from here.
"I'm excited about how the women's team has been doing," she said. "My freshman year, we didn't score one point in distance on the track at Heptagonal Championships, and this year, we scored eight. Our team is getting better and better."
The competition was bittersweet for many of the Big Green seniors, as it was their last race for Dartmouth.
"After the race, I was really happy I never had to do another race again," Zablocki said. "I thought I was going to die for about an hour afterwards it's really hot when you're running all out for a half an hour straight."
Despite their performances at Regionals, both teams are pleased with how they wrapped up the season, and both are looking forward to next year.
"Our team is moving in the right direction," Tanner said. "We took more people to Regionals than we ever have, and I think the whole level of the team is stepping up I'm very excited for our next year."
