Middlebury will host the 2007 NESCAC Track and Field Championships at the Allan Dragone Track and Field Complex on Saturday, April 28th.
Williams College, winners of the last six NESCAC Men’s and Women’s Track and Field titles, will join the rest of the conference this weekend at Middlebury. The Ephs have captured 14 of the last 15 Men’s titles and 11 of the last 13 Women’s crowns.
The Williams Women’s team edged Tufts for last year’s title by a margin of 36.5 points, the smallest margin of victory in the championship this decade. The Ephs will look to junior Maddy Outman (Boulder, Colo.) to help keep Williams’ stranglehold on the sprints against chal-lenges from Middlebury sophomore Jen Katz (Winchester, Mass.), the 2006 Most Outstanding Rookie Performer, and Tufts junior Kaleigh Fitzpatrick (Lynnfield, Mass.). Katz finished second in the 100-meter and 200-meter dash during last year’s championship. In the middle distance events, the Jumbos will look to put on repeat performances with the return of senior Sarah Crispin (Auburn, Maine) and juniors Catherine Beck (Brookline, N.H.) and Katy O’Brien (North Easton, Mass.). O’Brien came away with the title in the 800-meter last spring, while Beck won the 1500-meter event last year after Crispin took home the 1500-meter title in 2005.
Amherst senior Shauneen Garrahan (Fairfax Station, Va.) hopes to repeat in both the 5000-meter distance and the 3000-meter steeple-chase. Garrahan won the 5000-meter in the 2006 championship by more than a minute after setting a championship record in the steeple-chase earlier in the meet. The Jeffs’ combination of juniors Heather Wilson (Danvers, Mass.) and Kim Partee (Brentwood, Tenn.) will be joined by seniors Karen Prisby (Agawam, Mass.) of Colby and Ellen Davis (Montclair, N.J.) in search of the distance titles. Wilson and Partee finished two-three in the 10000-meter last year, while Colby has won the event at each of the last two championships.
In hurdles, Trinity junior Amanda White (Wareham, Mass.) will look to earn her third 100-meter hurdles crown, while Bates sophomore Izzy Alexander (Harvard, Mass.) returns after winning the 400-meter hurdles event. White, the 2005 NESCAC Most Outstanding Rookie Per-former, won the 100-meter hurdles last year over Williams’ Outman by three one-hundreths of a second.
On the Men’s side, Williams’ combination of junior Andrew Arons (West Hartford, Conn.), junior Nick Reynolds (Louisville, Ky.), and sopho-more Deividas Seferis (Klaipeda, Lithuania) will attempt to monopolize the sprint events again this spring for the Ephs. Arons won the 100 and 200-meter dash at last year’s championship, while Reynolds was sixth in both the 200 and 400-meter dash. The Bates senior tandem of Matthew Capone (Auburn, Maine) and Samuel Thomas (Richmond, Va.) will challenge for the sprint titles, as Capone finished third in the 100 and 200-meter dash in 2006 with Thomas placing third in the 400-meter. In the 800-meter, Williams returns the four runners to this year’s meet that finished in the top five in the event last year. Junior Chris Beeler (Deleware, Ohio) took home the title with seniors Mike Davitian (East Setauket, N.Y.), Tyler Gray (Bedford, Mass.) and Bill Ference (Longhorn, Pa.) finishing second, fourth and fifth, respectively, as Beeler was separated from Ference by just over one second. Davitian not only won the 1500-meter for the second year in a row but also broke the 10-year old championship record in the event, while Ference finished third in the 1500-meter. The Ephs have taken the 1500- meter race at each of the last four conference championships.
The distance events could be up for grabs at this year’s championship. Wesleyan senior Jon King (Greenland, N.H.) placed second in the 5000-meter run last April and is the highest returning finisher in the event, while Middlebury junior Jimmy Butcher (Garden City, N.Y.) finished just behind King in third. Seniors Alex Battaglino (Westport, Conn.) of Wesleyan and Dan Vassallo (Wilmington, Mass.) of Colby return to the championship one last time after placing first and second respectively in last year’s 10000-meter. In the 3000-meter steeple-chase, Connecticut College sophomore Brian Murtagh (Rowley, Mass.) will look to defend his title that helped him earn Most Outstanding Rookie Performer honors last year.
In the men’s field events, Williams senior Branden Mirach (Elmont, N.Y.) hopes to defend his long jump and triple jump titles from many challengers, including Tufts senior Fred Jones (Northfield, Mass.) who won both events at the meet in 2005. Jones set the championship record for the long jump at the 2005 meet. The shot put, discus and javelin are wide open this weekend with all of last year’s champions departing due to graduation. Look for a solid performance from Wesleyan rookie Mike Moody (Portland, Maine) in his first championship appearance in the javelin throw.
The championship format, previously a two-day event, was changed to a one-day competition in 2003. The meet gets underway on Saturday with field events beginning at 9:00 a.m. and running events commencing at 9:30 a.m. Results will be available at the conclusion of the event online at www.nescac.com.
--courtesy NESCAC--