After the women finished second and the men finished sixth at the indoor Heptagonal Championships this winter, the track and field teams look to a strong finish at this weekend’s outdoor Heptagonal Championships, hosted by Yale University.
Last year, The Big Green women finished in fifth place with 81 points at the championship meet, and Cornell University won the meet with 145 points. The men finished in sixth place with 58 points, as Princeton University won with 190 points.
After winning seven indoor events, the women will rely on athletes in all disciplines to repeat their performances from the indoor season. Both teams will also rely on athletes in the steeplechase, 400 meter hurdles, 4x100-meter relay, hammer, javelin and 10,000-meter run, all of which are not competed during the indoor season, to contribute toward the point total for the Big Green.
The women’s team looks to build on the momentum from the indoor season, women’s head coach Sandra Ford-Centonze said.
After spending the week bonding as a team — making posters and doing the traditional team cheer at the Class of 1953 Commons Thursday night — Megan Krumpoch ’14 said the team is excited for the weekend. Thus far the teams have both enjoyed incredibly successful seasons, posting new school, Ivy League and personal records, and runners look forward to the excitement of the Heptagonal championships.
“There is an energy unlike any other meet,” Krumpoch said.
The meet will be the last for Abbey D’Agostino ’14, who will have the opportunity to add to her 13 Ivy League championships. Her event schedule for the weekend was not set as of press time, but last year she won the 1,500- and 3,000-meter run and was part of a team that came in third in the 4x800-meter relay.
After finishing second behind D’Agostino in the mile at the indoor championships, Liz Markowitz ’16 recorded the fourth fastest time in the 1,500 among Ivy League athletes this outdoor season. Dana Giordano ’16, the indoor 3,000-meter champion, recorded a strong performance in the 4x1,500-meter relay at the Penn Relays and has run the third fastest time among Ivy League athletes in the 5,000 meter run. Sarah DeLozier ’15 holds the second fastest time in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
Four Dartmouth athletes hold top-15 Ivy-League times in the 800-meter run. Krumpoch, the indoor 800-meter champion, leads the pack with the second fastest time of the spring, while Meggie Donovan ’15, Arianna Vailas ’14 and Meghan Grela ’17 all look for good finishes to back up their strong springs.
Krumpoch will also compete in her signature event, the 400-meter hurdles, which she won last year. She has run the third-fastest time in the event this season, while Katy Sprout ’17 holds the seventh-fastest time.
“There is a little more pressure because everyone expects the defending champion to repeat,” Krumpoch said. “I’m just going to relax and run my race, and whatever happens, happens. Hopefully it works out in my favor.”
Other sprinters that the Big Green will look to for points include Kaitlin Whitehorn ’16 and Jenn Meech ’16. After winning the 200-meter dash indoor, Meech holds the third fastest outdoor time, and Whitehorn has the fourth.
On the men’s side, the distance team will have to make up for the loss of Will Geoghegan ’14 to injury.
While his sub-four mile capabilities will be hard to make up, Steve Mangan ’14, the indoor mile champion holds the 12th-fastest 1,500 meter time and Silas Talbot ’15 has the 14th-fastest time.
John Bleday ’14, Curtis King ’16 and Henry Sterling ’14 will also be distance runners to watch, as Bleday and King have the eighth and ninth fastest times, respectively, in the 5,000-meter run, and Sterling has the 12th. King also has the ninth fastest time in the 10,000 and Sterling will run the steeplechase, where he has the second fastest time this season.
The sprinters will be led by Edward Wagner ’16, who specializes in the 400-meter hurdles, where he has the fastest time going into the meet.
Coaches and athletes stress that the meet is like any other to help keep athletes calm and ready to compete.
“Everyone needs to prepare the same, since this is not a time when you want to change any routines,” Ford-Centonze said. “We make sure that we get the little housekeeping things done. We’ve been going since September so we are letting the momentum continue to grow.”
The championships will begin Saturday at 11 a.m. with four field events.
The article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction appended: May 11, 2014
John Bleday is a member of the Class of 2014, not the Class of 2015. The article has been corrected.
