Despite a few delays due to Hanover’s icy road conditions, the Dartmouth Relays were a resounding success for the Big Green — both the men’s and women’s teams finished first.
The three-day event, which includes one of the largest high school meets in the Northeast, concluded on Sunday with the majority of the collegiate-level events.
The women took their fourth consecutive title on the strength of six individual titles, scoring 140.5 points to finish well ahead of the runners-up, Harvard University.Even without the presence of star harrier Abbey D’Agostino ’14, the Big Green distance runners had a successful meet. Meggie Donovan ’15 finished top among college competitors in the mile, with a time of 4:58.70 and Bridget End ’14 defeating all competitors in the 3000-meter with a time of 9:58.83, nearly 30 seconds ahead of the nearest collegiate runner.
“It was pretty amazing,” End said. “I was hoping to have a shot to win it, but I wasn’t totally sure what the competition would be like. It was cool to do it on my home track with all my teammates watching — to know I contributed to the team score was amazing.”
In the mile, Sarah Delozier ’15, Abby Markowitz ’16, Helen Schlachtenhaufen ’17 and Claire Arthur ’14 finished second, third, fourth and sixth, respectively, among college runners — taking 29 of the available 31 team points in the event for the Big Green.
The middle-distance runners also saw success as Megan Krumpoch ’14 took home the title in the 800-meter and Jennifer Meech ’16 won the 400-meter. Krumpoch completed her event in 2:12.30, just 10 seconds ahead of Arianna Vailas ’14 in third, and Meech’s 58.65 mark was under half a second ahead of the second-place runner.
In the field events, Janae Dunchack ’14 bested the field in the long jump with a leap of 5.53 meters while also finishing sixth in the 60-meter hurdles. Molly Shapiro ’16 won 10 points for the Big Green in the triple jump with a distance of 11.36 meters.
Donovan suggested that the team’s diverse wins were its biggest strength, with big showings in long-distance, middle-distance and jumping events.
“The team as the years have gone by has developed a lot of depth and that is a main source of success,” Donovan said. “We’re all contributing and no one is leaning on anyone else.”
Just a historical step behind the women, the men’s team captured its third consecutive collegiate title, finishing with 120 points, seven ahead of the second-place Southern Connecticut State University.
One of the most exciting events of the afternoon came in the high jump where Jeremy Birck ’15 won the event in a jump-off, clearing 1.98 meters after finishing tied with another competitor at 1.94 meters in regulation.
Will Geoghegan ’14 also had a thrilling victory in the mile over former national champion Sam Chelenga, running unattached. Geoghegan won by a hair, thanks to a strong final push.
The men also dominated the 3000-meter, with John Bleday ’14, Steve Mangan ’14, Brian Masterson ’16 and Matt Herzig ’17 finishing in first, second, third and sixth place, respectively.
Josh Cyphers ’14 led the field in the pole vault with a jump of 4.75 meters. The team of Bleday, Mangan, Daniel Salas ’17 and Will Callan ’15 took the top spot in the 4x800-meter relay with a time of 8:00.46.
The team enjoyed competing within the friendly confines of its home track, and athletes commented on the benefits the accompany running at home.
“We all have a lot of school spirit and all had a team dinner Friday night and did a team cheer today” End said. “That just gets everyone pumped up.”
Donovan agreed, saying that the team takes pride in competing at home and sees it as a competitive advantage.
“We talk a lot about protecting our house when we’re here at home and we go into home meets thinking that no one is going to win in our house,” she said. “It’s not even an option to lose at home.”
The teams return to Leverone next week with a tri-meet, hosting Yale University and Columbia University on Saturday.
