Dartmouth began its weekend on Thursday, with some of its athletes getting an opportunity to participate in the historic Penn Relays.
"It was probably the biggest crowd any of us will get to run in front of all season," co-captain Connor Reilly '13 said. "The history there is obviously important and impressive. No matter how we do, the meet in and of itself is an incredible experience."
Mollie Gribbin '16 began Dartmouth's weekend competitions with a strong performance in the long jump in the Eastern Division at the Penn Relays. She earned fifth with a 5.74-meter jump, a new season personal best.
"The weekend was good," Gribbin said. "I had three season PRs in my events: long jump, triple jump, and the 100-meter dash. Whenever you have a personal record it's really the most you can ask for."
Edward Wagner '16 had an excellent weekend for the Big Green, running a 53.20 in the 400-meter hurdles to finish 16th. He anchored a 4x100-relay group that included Reilly, Brett Buskey '15, and John Abraham '16 the group came in 35th.
"Ed Wagner had a great day," Reilly said. "He has been consistent all year and was close to his personal record."
Reilly competed in two events this weekend, taking fourth place in his 100-meter dash heat in 10.66 seconds.
"I had a solid performance this week," Reilly said. "But I'm looking forward to giving my best performance of the season next weekend at the championship."
TJ Servino '15 finished fifth in the men's hammer throw, with a total of 57.44-meters.
"Servino had a great performance in the hammer throw today," men's coach Barry Harwick said. "He's been really consistent all season."
Megan Krumpoch '14 had success in both Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. On Thursday she finished 16th in the women's 400-meter hurdles championship in Philadelphia, and then she won the 400-meter dash on Saturday in Amherst with a 54.92, the second fastest time in Dartmouth history.
"Megan ran her lifetime best 400 today," women's coach Sandra Ford-Centonze said. "I was really excited and pleased with her performance."
The Dartmouth women placed third at UMass, with 121.50 points. UMass came out ahead with 164.50 points and the Big Green finished behind University of Vermont, who ended the meet with 127.50 points. The team of Toni Aguiar '16, Sara Kikut '16, Anna Kikut '16 and Jennifer Meech '16 dominated the 4x100-meter relay, setting a new school record of 47.28. The previous record of 47.42 was set in 1987.
"The 4x100 team had a really good performance last week at Princeton and today's performance was phenomenal," Ford-Centonze said. "We've still got to work on handing off the baton and we'll take care of that in practice this week, but I was really encouraged by what I saw."
The Big Green men's team had 98 team points in Amherst on Saturday, which put them in fourth place, behind Northeastern, UMass, and UVM. Jalil Bishop '14, who won the 200-meter with a 49.07, and Josh Cyphers '14 who won the pole vault with a jump of 4.80-meters, led the relay team.
Both Dartmouth teams are looking ahead to the Ivy League Heptagonal Championship next Saturday at Princeton University. Ford-Centonze stressed that this weekend primed the track and field teams for the season's main event.
"We didn't plan to have the whole team compete today, because of the championship next weekend," she said. "But that being said, this weekend was very beneficial and well worth it."
Athletes knew the importance of getting ready for next week.
"There were some individual performances this weekend that were pretty confidence-boosting," Silas Talbot '15 said. "We're looking forward to bringing that success into the meet against the other Ivies next weekend."
Reilly said the men's team is looking to maintain its consistency and peak at the right time.
"If we all do our best, we will place rather high in the league next weekend, which is all we can ask for," he said.
The women are looking to repeat last year's top-three finish.
"If we reach our goals as individuals, we should be able to reach them as a team," she said.
