The Dartmouth men's and women's track and field teams performed well at both the 117th Penn Relays and UMass Invitational this past weekend, the last meets in which the teams will participate before the Ivy Heptagonals at Yale University on Saturday and Sunday. Both teams had many strong individual performances and the women's distance medley team bested an eight-year-old school record.
In the Distance Medley Championship of America event at the Penn Relays, the women's team placed eighth against some of the best teams in the country. Captain Chrissy Supino '12, Alex Tanner '11, Monica Adler '14 and Abbey D'Agostino '14 finished with a time of 11:16.02, setting a new school record. The previous record of 11:20.35 was set in 2003.
"I was extremely pleased with how Penn went," women's head coach Sandra Ford-Centonze said. "It's probably the biggest outdoor meet in the country. Going into the season, we pick events we go for to try and break a record. We fell a little bit short in the winter, but it was great to finally get it. It was three underclassmen and one senior, and although [Tanner] is a huge leg to replace, we are optimistic about the future as well."
Tanner took fourth place in the women's 400-meter hurdles with a time of 59.07, finishing only behind runners from Bold Championship Series schools, a rare feat for an Ivy League competitor. Jaclyn Wypler '11 finished fifth in the javelin at 43.74 meters (143-06.00 feet) the third best throw in the history of the program.
In the 4x800 Championship of America, the quartet of Supino, Adler, Andrea Imhof '11 and Arianna Vailas '14 took ninth place at 8:46.23.
In the 4x400 Heptagonal event, Supino, Tanner, Kaleigh Wood '11 and Megan Krumpoch '14 took fifth place at 3:51.58.
On the men's side, the strongest finish for the Big Green came in the 4x800-meter relay. The team of Tom Robbins '11, Steve Mangan '14, Joseph Woiwode '14 and Anthony Romaniw '13 took fourth with a time of 7:28.73.
In the 4x400 Heptagonal event, Woiwode, Tyrone DeSpenza '13, Joe Lonek '11 and Jalil Bishop '14 took third in the five-team event at 3:19.47.
In the College Championship javelin event, Daniel Ostrovsky '10 placed 10th with a throw of 56.83 meters (186-05.00 feet), while in the regular javelin competition, Chris Roe '11 finished 12th, throwing 58.43 meters (191-08.00 feet).
David Irving '11, who men's head coach Barry Harwick described as "one of the most outstanding athletes on the team," took 10th in the hammer throw Championship event at 52.10 meters (170-11.00 feet) and 11th in the Eastern shot put competition with a mark of 15.41 meters (50-06.75 feet). Dom Filiano '14 took 12th in the shotput at 15.39 meters (50-06.00 feet).
With the team's focus set on racking up points at the Heptagonals this weekend, Harwick said he is optimistic about the Big Green's future success.
"Princeton and Cornell have dominated in the last few years," Harwick said. "We finished third in the winter, and we're certainly trying to at least maintain the position. There are a lot of events in the outdoor [season] that work in our favor. There are more throws outdoors, and the hammer, discus and javelin ought to be events where Dartmouth can score points."
The Big Green was also successful at the UMass Invitational this past weekend, finishing second in both the men's and women's competitions.
"UMass was used really as a tune-up because our most important race of the season is actually next weekend," Chris Fletcher '11 said. "I [recorded a personal record] in both the 110 and 400-meter hurdles, which is very exciting for me because it's the first time that I've been able to have success with both."
Both teams will be racing at Heptagonals the Ivy League Championship meet at Yale University this Saturday and Sunday.
