Some Big Green athletes looked to rebound from subpar performances at last weekend's Ivy League Heptagonal Championships, while others used the meets as one last chance to post a qualifying time for the NCAA East Preliminary Round on May 24-26 at the University of North Florida.
The highlight of the weekend was the women's 1,500-meter run at the Twilight Meet, where Abbey D'Agostino '14 broke yet another school record, leading a trio of Dartmouth runners to fast times. D'Agostino won the race in 4:16.15 and now owns the program's top marks in the 1,500-meter run, the mile, the 3,000-meter run and 5,000-meter run. She was also a member of the distance medley and 4x800-meter relay squads that broke school records this season. D'Agostino was not the only Big Green runner to perform well, however, as Alexi Pappas '12 was right behind in second place in 4:18.41, good for third-best in program history. Chrissy Supino '12 placed sixth in 4:23.18, making her the fifth-fastest 1,500-meter runner in program history.
D'Agostino, Pappas and Supino were all members of the distance medley relay squad that took third at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in March.
On the men's side, Joe Woiwode '14 started things off for the Big Green with a sixth-place showing in the 800-meter run (1:51.95). Silas Talbot '15 led the Big Green in the 1,500-meter run in 3:53.08, while Luke Decker '15 was 22nd in 4:00.46.
In the men's 5,000-meter run, Mike Danaher '13 claimed third-place with a personal-best time of 14:48.70. Danaher said that while he was not upset with his performance, he believes he could have run faster with more event-specific training.
"Basically, I've been training the whole season for the 1,500 meters, and it showed yesterday," Danaher said. "I switched gears really easily and finished strong, but didn't have the strength to sustain the pace I wanted through the middle stages of the race. Still, I wanted to give the 5K a shot to see where I was at, so the Twilight Meet was a nice opportunity to do that as it's relatively low-pressure."
Competition began on Friday afternoon at Princeton, highlighted by outstanding performances from several of Dartmouth's younger runners. In the men's 10,000-meter run, Dylan O'Sullivan '15 finished fifth in a field of 30 runners, finishing in a time of 30:15.32. Henry Sterling '14 finished fifth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 9:00.63, a time that will advance him to Regionals.
Connor Reilly '13 took seventh in the 100-meter dash, finishing in a time of 10.73 seconds. Reilly's time of 10.67 seconds in the preliminaries was a wind-legal personal best and moved him into No. 2 all-time in program history.
John Bleday '14 and Lukas Zirngibl '14 also competed for Dartmouth, with Bleday finishing ninth in the 5,000-meter run in 14:23.93, and Zirngibl coming in fourth in the 800-meter run in 1:52.15. Although neither runner improved his time on the season, both still have a chance to advance to Regionals should runners seeded ahead of them elect to contest other events.
Despite a solid showing, Zirngibl said he was disappointed with his performance.
"I was happy about qualifying for the finals with a solid time, but the finals race didn't go the way I had planned," Zirngibl said. "The leaders took the first lap very slow, screwing up my strategy of being able to even-split a sub-1:50 pace. Instead, the race was very tactical exactly what I didn't want."
T.J. Servino '15 was 15th in the men's hammer throw, recording a toss of 174'00".
On the women's side, Cathy Liebowitz '15 stood out for the Big Green. In the hammer throw, Liebowitz mustered a sixth-place showing (182'10") in a field consisting mostly of juniors and seniors. In addition to a personal best for Liebowitz, the throw elevated her to second all-time in program history, trailing only NCAA qualifier Emily Daly '09, who threw 194'8" in April 2009.
"I was shocked when my coach told me the news [about owning the second-best throw], but also honored to be placed into Dartmouth's history," Liebowitz said. "In high school, I was a multi[-event athlete] more than a thrower and never picked up a hammer. This fall I worked a lot more on strength and conditioning than throwing so that I was ready for the long track season. Recently, everything fell into place."
Heps heptathlon champion Janae Dunchack '14 finished in a tie for seventh in the high jump, clearing 5'7", while Emmaline Berg '13 took 15th in the shot put with a best toss of 44'0".
Dartmouth will send another group to the second Twilight Meet in Lowell, Mass. this weekend, while the team's top athletes will compete at Regionals in Jacksonville, Fla. in two weeks.
