The Dartmouth men's and women's track and field teams traveled across the Northeast over the weekend to compete in several meets before the start of the spring season. While the weekend served as a final breath of stale indoor air for the majority of Dartmouth's competitors, four speedy athletes used the weekend to qualify for the NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships next weekend in Nampa, Idaho.
The quartet of Alexi Pappas '12, Megan Krumpoch '14, Chrissy Supino '12 and Abbey D'Agostino '14 qualified for the women's distance medley relay with a school-record time of 11:00.62 at the appropriately-named Columbia Last Chance Meet held at The Armory Track and Field Center in New York City.
The relay team finished second to national powerhouse University of Florida in the distance medley relay. Florida posted a time of 10:58.77.
The distance medley relay consists of four legs the 1,200 meters, 400 meters, 800 meters and 1,600 meters.
Dartmouth is seeded seventh heading into nationals, with the top eight finishers garnering All-American honors. The University of Washington leads all qualifiers with a time of 10:55.01.
"We know we belong in the top group," D'Agostino, the team's anchor, said. "People tend to allow the pressure of nationals to interfere with their confidence, so we just need to stay relaxed and be competitive. I think we have a legitimate chance of being All-American."
In addition to running the 1,600-meter leg of the distance medley relay, D'Agostino will also compete in the 3,000-meter run at nationals. The distance medley will be held Friday night, with the 3,000-meter final scheduled for Saturday night. Several other anchor legs will complete the double.
"I've had experience with doubling before, so as long as I get adequate rest and take care of my legs on Friday night, I should feel ready to race by Saturday," D'Agostino said.
The other storyline heading into last weekend was that of John Bleday '14, who hoped to break the four-minute barrier in the men's mile at the Columbia Last Chance Meet.
Heading into the weekend, Bleday felt confident in his ability to break the mark following his win in the 3,000 meters at the Ivy League Indoor Heptagonal Championships on Feb. 25.
Unfortunately, Bleday will have to wait a bit longer for his next chance to break four, as he ran to a disappointing 33rd place finish at The Armory, finishing in 4:12.67.
"I was just mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted," says Bleday. "I'm looking forward to resting up, getting ready for spring and then competing with the best runners in the country at outdoor nationals."
Four runners broke the four-minute barrier, including Joe Stilin of Princeton University and race-winner Kyle Merber of Columbia University. Bleday out-kicked Stilin to win at Heps the week before.
Other noteworthy performances by Big Green competitors at The Armory included a record-breaking performance by Connor Reilly '13 in the 60-meter dash.
Reilly ran 6.83 seconds to finish second behind Michael LeBlanc of Canada (6.63 seconds). Reilly's performance bested his own school record by one-hundredth of second, set at last year's indoor Heps meet.
"It was nice to be able to come off an injury and run a decent time," Reilly said.
Looking forward to the spring outdoor season, Reilly will focus his training on slightly longer races, namely the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes, as the 60 meters is not run outdoors.
A small contingent of men traveled to compete at the IC4A championships at Boston University on Saturday and Sunday. The women's team sent a group to the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston for the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships.
At the IC4As, Luke Decker '15 led the way for the Big Green, finishing fifth in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 2:27.38.
"The 1,000-meter race really plays to my own personal strength," Decker said. "It's longer than an 800, so it requires endurance that most 800 runners don't have, and it's shorter than a mile, so it requires top speed that most milers don't have."
Decker called his race in the finals his "best performance all season."
"Things didn't go exactly as I'd hoped," Decker said. "I got boxed in during the fourth lap, so I just kicked as hard as I could in the final lap and managed to finish fifth. I was really happy that I stuck my nose in there and ran hard until the end."
Ethan Shaw '12 raced in the 5,000-meter run, and finished the race in eighth place with a time of 14:16.51, fading over the final mile after passing the 3,200-meter mark in 8:58.
Dom Filiano '14 also competed for Dartmouth in the shot put, finishing in 13th place with a throw of 53'1.5".
Across town at the ECACs, Emmaline Berg '13 led the Big Green with a fifth-place finish in the shot put, throwing a personal best of 45'5.75".
"I was really excited to get out there and throw my best," Berg said. "We've trained to make ourselves peak at this point in the season, so I'm pretty pleased with my result."
In the weight throw, Cathy Liebowitz '15 and Christina Alexander '11 placed 11th and 36th with throws of 54'3.75" and 48'6.25", respectively.
Other competitors for the Big Green included Bridget End '14, who finished 10th overall in the 3,000-meter run in a personal best time of 9:50.54.
D'Agostino and the distance medley team will compete one last time at nationals this weekend, while the rest of the team rests up before traveling to Raleigh, N.C. and Myrtle Beach, S.C. for its annual spring training trip.
