When Will Geoghegan ’14 crossed the finish line on Saturday at the Terrier Invitational at Boston University in 3:58.04, he crossed into the history books as well. The senior from Brunswick, Maine, ran the fastest mile in the nation this year, breaking Dartmouth and Ivy League records.
He is now the second Dartmouth runner to ever break four minutes in the mile, and the first to do it indoors. The first from the Big Green to run an under-four minute mile was Ben True ’08 who ran it in 3:59.99. Geoghegan smashed Dartmouth’s indoor track record which stood at 4:02.26 by Sam Wilbur ’94. The previous Ivy League record was 3:58.52, set by Columbia University’s Kyle Merber in 2010.
Steve Mangan ’14 and John Bleday ’14 ran the second- and third-fastest indoor mile times in Dartmouth history, 4:01.31 and 4:01.44, respectively. Mangan held the Dartmouth record in the mile temporarily, then Geoghegan broke it in the next heat.
“Workouts were going really well and Steve, John and I thought we were all ready,” Geoghegan said. “I ended up in the second heat and they were in the first, but my rabbit did a better job.”
Abbey D’Agostino ’14 ran 4:28.31 to break her own Ivy League and Dartmouth record of 4:30.03, which she set last year. She was just three seconds off the NCAA record.
Despite setting the record, D’Agostino came in second in the race to 17-year-old Mary Cain, who runs as a professional for the Nike Oregon Project. D’Agostino outkicked former NCAA star Jordan Hasay, who also runs for Nike, by .06 of a second.
D’Agostino said that this was the most competitive meet of the year and one of the more competitive Terrier invites she can remember.
“We try to keep it low key and just think of it as another race so we don’t psych ourselves out mentally,” she added. I guess it is sort of hard against the pros because they have quite a bit more base training since they didn’t run cross country.”
Dana Giordano ’16 also ran a strong mile, finishing 10th overall with a time of 4:47.64.
Another Dartmouth record was broken this weekend as Megan Krumpoch ’14 ran 2:06.31, good enough for second place in the 800-meter race. Her time was .63 faster than the old record set by Chrissy Supino ’12.
The track and field teams also competed at the Joe Donahue Games hosted by Northeastern at the Reggie Lewis Center.
Highlights for the Big Green at the Donahue Games included a second-place finish by Jennifer Meech ’16 in the 400-meter race with a time of 56.96, as well as her third-place finish in the 200-meter dash in 25.47.
Emmaline Berg ’13 took second in the shot put with a throw of 13.89 meters and sixth in the weight throw, clearing 14.66 meters.
On the men’s side, Alex Frye ’17 won the high jump, clearing 2.03 meters. His teammate Jeremy Birck ’15 also performed well, clearing 1.98 meters.
Jonathan Beering ’17 came in fifth in the shot put with his throw of 14.50 meters, while Nico Robinson ’17 jumped 6.66 meters, fifth in the long jump.
The division of the team between the two meets dampened the typically electric moods, especially because both meets were non-scoring, Danny Katz ’16 said.
“This meet was a little less supportive, people still cheer for each other, but it’s different because the team isn’t all there,” Katz said. “People aren’t as concerned about team points, and it breaks down the enthusiasm a little.”
The Big Green return to the friendly confines of Leverone Field House next weekend for the Dartmouth Classic, which starts Saturday at noon.
