The Big Green track and field teams continued their strong seasons with impressive individual accomplishments at the Valentine Invitational hosted by Boston University last weekend.
The event, which is not team-scored, featured some of the top individual talent in the Northeast. The women competed on Friday, and Dartmouth's runners kept up their early-season dominance.
Abbey D'Agostino '14 continued at her prodigious pace, shattering yet another Dartmouth record this week in the 3,000-meter run. She broke the previous mark, which was set earlier this season by teammate Alexi Pappas '12, by an astounding margin of 12 seconds after clocking a time of 9:02.15. Pappas ran well in the race as well, finishing in fourth with a time of 9:15.18, less than a second off her personal best.
The school record was D'Agostino's fourth in as many weeks, as she had previously set standards both in the mile and as part of the distance medley relay squad.
D'Agostino was not the only Dartmouth woman to set a record at Valentine, however. Co-captain Chrissy Supino '12 took sixth, running the 800-meter in 2:06.94, almost a second faster than the previous school record set by three-time All-American Kristen Manwaring '96.
Supino, who now owns four of the top six marks in program history at that distance, expressed satisfaction at finally passing such an important milestone toward the end of her Dartmouth career.
"It's a record I've been looking at since I was a freshman," Supino said.
Marina Plessons '15 and Berkeley Hall '14 also turned in solid performances, as Plesons finished second in the pole vault (11'5.75"), while Hall took fourth in the long jump, leaping 17'6.75".
Saturday was the men's day of competition at BU, and they didn't disappoint after the strong showing from the Big Green women the day before.
John Bleday '14 led the team with a victory in the 3,000-meter run over a field of more than 100 competitors. His time of 8:03.78 was the sixth-fastest time in Dartmouth history and the fastest by a Big Green athlete since Ben True '08 clocked 7:59.87 in 2009.
Pleased with his individual performance, Bleday also gave credit to Matt Miner '12, who helped pace Bleday through the early laps, putting him in good position to both win the race and run a fast time. The strategy succeeded, as Bleday was able to push the pace once Miner dropped out as planned, cruising to victory by almost three seconds.
"With about 500 meters to go, I tried to make a definitive move and drop the guys early, and it worked out really well for me," Bleday said.
Co-captain Ethan Shaw '12 also took home a win for the team, defeating the field in the 5,000-meter run. His time of 14:16.17 put him over six seconds ahead of the second place finisher. Miner ran an impressive mile in 4:04.37, which was good for 14th in a 250-person event and ranks as the second-fastest mile on the team this year behind Bleday's 4:04.02.
Co-captain Connor Reilly '13 took eighth in the 60-meter dash with a season-best time of 6.93 seconds. Josh Cyphers '14 took fourth in the pole vault, clearing 14'11" on his first attempt at the height. In the high jump, Jeremy Birck '15 claimed fifth, jumping 6'6.25".
Members of both teams relished the challenge competing against some of the nation's top runners, including non-collegiate athletes at the non-scoring event.
"We looked at the meet as an opportunity to run against some really fast teams and unattached runners," Supino said.
The experience should prove valuable to the team as it shifts into the championship portion of the season.
Dartmouth's throwers were also in action this week at a separate meet at the University of New Hampshire in which they competed against UNH, the University of Maine and the University of Vermont. Because UNH offers better throwing facilities than BU, head coaches Barry Harwick and Sandy Ford-Centonze decided to split the squads between the two meets.
Dom Filiano '14 finished second in the shot put with a throw of 53'5" and led the team with a fourth-place finish in the weight throw (51'0.75").
Emmaline Berg '13 threw 46'11" to win the shot on the women's side, while Christina Alexander '11, Corinne Kominkiewicz 14 and Corinne Romano '15 claimed second through fourth, respectively, in a clean sweep for the Big Green.
The team has high expectations for the remainder of the season, and all attention is focused on solid results at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships later this month. Supino is looking forward to an opportunity to perform well in her individual events while also keeping in mind that the distance medley relay team is trying to qualify for nationals. Supino didn't seem worried about the challenge of balancing the two goals.
"Everyone is on top of what they need to be doing," Supino said. "That makes it really easy to balance the team stuff and the individual stuff."
This year's meet will be Bleday's first indoor Heps, and though the rapidly improving sophomore has high expectations, he also views the meet as a great opportunity to gain experience against some of the league's top runners.
"I'd really like to win a Heps title," Bleday said. "But I'd just like to compete at that level and get experience because I'm at the younger end of the spectrum."
The two teams next compete at the Heptagonal Championships, hosted by Cornell University Feb. 24-25.
