Dartmouth runners broke a school record for the fourth time this season this weekend, this time in the men’s distance medley relay. Friday’s 9:37.33 time run by John Bleday ’14, Phil Gomez ’17, Steve Mangan ’14 and Will Geoghegan ’14 at the Pennsylvania State University narrowly eclipsed the old mark of 9:37.61, which was set in 2006.
The women’s distance medley relay team ran the second-fastest time in school history at the meet, only two seconds off the record, with a time of 11:02.21. The team of Dana Giordano ’16, Jennifer Meech ’16, Megan Krumpoch ’14 and Abbey D’Agostino ’14 took second place in the race.
The women qualified for nationals, which will be held in March in Albuquerque.
The only other athlete to compete at Penn State was Janae Dunchack ’14, who finished fourth in the pentathlon with 3,796 points.
The distance medley relay consists of 1,200-meter-, 800-meter-, 400-meter-, and 1,600-meter legs. Runners said they used different strategies for the relay than individual events.
“In both our races our anchors Will and Abbey got the baton behind the pack and had to go out very fast,” head coach Barry Harwick said. “Will ran very well with a 3:58 leg but he went out in 1:55 which is very, very fast. It was necessary because he needed to catch up to the leaders but in an open race you wouldn’t do that, you would try to run more even splits.”
Gomez was the only underclassman participating, but he embraced the opportunity to compete.
“The 400 is not the focus of the race,” Gomez said. “Every part is important but most of the weight was on the other guys. I was honored to be running with three of the best guys in program history and I knew whatever I did they would do their part.”
The women were pleased with their fast time, Krumpoch said, but look to run even faster the next time.
“In my leg of the race everyone took off really quickly, so the plan for me is to work on pacing,” she said. “In general a big thing for us is to be more confident.”
Other members of the track and field teams stayed home to compete in the Dartmouth Classic, the third home meet of the season. Both the Big Green men’s and women’s teams had numerous individual wins.
Highlights for the men included a strong performance by Jonathan Beering ’17, who threw over 51 meters total, good for the win.
John Abraham ’16 came in second place in the 60-meter dash, with a time of 7.01 seconds. Ben Nollet ’17 won the high jump, clearing 1.98 meters.
For the women, Kaitlin Whitehorn ’16 won the 60-meter sprint and came in second to teammate Kathleen Sprout ’17 in the 200-meter race. Elizabeth Markowitz ’16 won the 1,000-meter race by four seconds and Stephanie Brown ’16 won the pole vault.
Balancing multiple meets is difficult for the coaching staff, Harwick said. He and Coogan drove to Penn and returned midday Saturday for the remainder of the home meet.
Next weekend, the teams split up again, traveling to the Valentine’s Invitational at Boston University and the New Balance Collegiate Invitational in New York.
