"It was really a spectacular day for the entire team," said senior tri-captain Aly Venti. "Everybody ran a personal best time this weekend, whether it was in a relay or an individual event."
The women placed 11th overall out of 31 teams with 27 points. Carter Hamill '05 once again led the team by adding a fifth individual victory of the season as she took first place in the 3000m race. Hamill broke her own school record with a time of 9:36.50. Venti finished close behind in third place with a time of 9:49.15, which put her in the number two spot in the nation among Div. III 3K runners. She also improved her personal-best time by eight seconds.
"Carter [Hamill] ran a very confident race, leading from the gun and making the win look easy," said Venti. "She cruised in to another personal best again, re-setting the school record."
Shauneen Garrahan '07 came in fourth in the mile, breaking the former school record by six seconds and qualifying provisionally for the NCAAs. Ariel Haney '06 also broke a school record in the 400m dash. The Distance Medley Relay (DMR) team of Garrahan, Venti, Hamill and Lyndsey Scott '06 qualified provisionally for the NCAAs with their sixth place finish at 11:58.97. Garrahan, Hamill and Venti ran in the 4x800m relay as well along with Ginger Polich '06, coming in sixth.
"The DMR was only one second off of the automatic national qualifying time, which I'm confident they will get this weekend at ECACs," said Venti. "Ariel [Haney] ran an aggressive race in the 400, breaking the 60-second barrier by almost a second. Shauneen also ran incredibly well this weekend, breaking the five-minute barrier twice in the mile, once in the DMR and then again on Saturday in the open mile."
The women only look to improve upon their successes during their upcoming meets. "We have been coming together so well as a team these last few meets, which is a great confidence booster heading into this weekend. I know the girls will continue to run really well," said Venti.
The men's team placed 21st out of 30 teams and had many personal successes. Their DMR team also ran well, qualifying provisionally for the NCAAs. Dave Molina '05, Mike Page '05, Jack Morgan '05 and senior tri-captain Janak Chandrasoma teamed up for a sixth-place finish and set a new school record at 10:04.46.
"We had some pretty solid races all around," said Molina. "The DMR ended up racing UMass-Amherst in our heat and we were neck-and-neck. We've all been preparing for this DMR for a while and everything really came together. It was really exciting to see everyone having pretty outstanding races."
Page also ran in the ninth-place 4x800m relay and finished 10th in the 3000m race, just five seconds short of breaking a six-year-old school record, while taking 14 seconds off his personal record. His performance marked the fastest Div. III time in New England this season and is one of the fastest in the country.
The 4x400m relay team of Chandrasoma, Kevin O'Doherty '05, Jon Ettinger '07 and Sam Hayman '07 successfully raced under the ECAC mark to ensure a showing at the meet this weekend. John Stanton-Geddes '04 raced his fastest mile of the year, coming in 16th. "Stanton-Geddes ran a really good open mile and did a great job of opening the 4x800," said Molina. "He really stepped up in his leg of the relay."
The men have lofty goals for the remainder of the season. "Next week the DMR is going to go fresh on Friday and try to get an automatic time," said Molina. "It's pretty much going to be a showdown with all the New England Div. III schools, so we're looking forward to seeing what we can do." The team will compete at Bowdoin College this weekend for the ECAC Championships.