Women's Track
The women were led by a number of distance event wins. All-American Carter Hamill '05 won the 5000m race, breaking the NESCAC record in the process with a time of 17:02.78. Shauneen Garrahan '07 also won the 1500m by less than a second, passing her competitor in the last 50 meters to break the school record with her time of 4:33.91. She qualified automatically for the NCAA Championships with this performance.
"Shauneen's race was the most exciting of the day as she trailed a Middlebury runner for the first 1400 meters only to overtake her in the last 100," said senior co-captain Helen Dole.
Senior co-captain Aly Venti added to the wins with her first-place finish in the 10,000m, beating the competition by almost half a minute. In the same race, Margaret Davis '06 took third place.
In addition to these stellar performances, Ginger Polich '06 placed fourth in the 800m. Junior classmates Lee-Jay Henry and Alison Rodriguez both took home eighth-place finishes in the triple jump and 3k steeplechase, respectively.
"Ginger Polich ran a textbook 800 that won her heat, and was frankly one of the best races she has ever run," said senior men's team tri-captain Janak Chandrasoma.
Men's Track
On the men's side, Jack Morgan '05 won the 800m, breaking away from the pack in the last 100 meters to finish in a personal best time. He went on to compete with the rest of the Distance Medley Relay team of Dave Molina '05, Chandrasoma and John Stanton-Geddes '04 as they won their event.
"The NESCACs was a good meet for us," said Chandrasoma. "Our mid-distance crew provided for some of the most exciting races of the day, with some strong kicks to win at the end. Morgan had a very gutsy, gritty race in the 800m to become NESCAC champion."
The 4x100 relay team also did well as Chandrasoma, Jay Wagstaff '05, Jon Ettinger '07 and Geoff Stricsek '07 collaborated for a fourth-place finish. Molina also placed third in the 1500m while Chandrasoma grabbed fourth in the 200m and sixth in the 400m.
"I was really impressed by the team's overall competitive nature and determination in such an important meet," Wagstaff. "The team came together as a unit and performed on a whole new level."
Earlier in the week, select runners competed at the Penn Relays. Garrahan ran against mainly Div. I and open athletes in the 3000m steeplechase, but still managed to place eighth and qualify automatically for the NCAAs. Hamill raced in a combined college and Olympic development section for the 10K and finished fourth overall.
"Hamill and Garrahan really proved that they are among the top in the nation down at Penn," said Venti, who ran the Olympic development section of the 5k and also qualified for the NCAAs. Mike Page '05 also ran the Olympic development section of the 5k to a personal best, as well as an NCAA qualifying mark.
Both teams return to action this weekend at the New England Div. III Championships.