Williams Track Places Third in Dartmouth Relays
HANOVER, N.H. - The Williams men's indoor track and field team placed third at the 2008 Dartmouth Relays, their first competition as a full squad, on Saturday.The meet was held at Dartmouth University and is an annual event that many teams – both high school and collegiate – use to kick off their indoor seasons. The meet takes place over the course of an entire weekend: Friday and Saturday feature mostly high school competition, and collegiate and open races are held on Sunday.
The two teams that beat Williams in competition over 18 scored events were host Dartmouth University with 86.33 points, followed by runner-up Northeastern University (67.33 points). Both schools field NCAA Division I track programs, while Williams competes in Division III. The meet showed clearly that Williams can hold its own against foes outside their traditionally small-school division.
Williams’ large team showed its usual depth of talent in many events. In one race – the mile run – seven Williams runners toed the line, and Macklin Chaffee ’09 beat out all the competition to take home first place in a quick early-season time of 4:17.31.
Chaffee crossed the line surprised with his victory, saying the each part of the race came with varying emotions.
"Well, there were three main stages. At first I was angry because I had to lead [the race]," Chaffee said. "I was surprised when [Kevin] Kelleher [from Keene State] took over and no one else passed me. Then, I was much more surprised when kicking home [for the victory]."
The only other victory for the Ephs was the first-place finish by Corey Watts in the 5000 meter run. He won by two seconds over Jim Johnson of Merrimack Valley in a time of 15:37.31.
Although the team's only first-place finishes came from distance athletes, the top-scorers for the Eph's were evenly spread out among the other events.
In the sprints, freshman Matt Sullivan cruised over the 60-meter hurdles to finish fifth in a time of 8.92 seconds. This race, a clattering dash down a short straightaway with hurdles approaching with every step, is often decided by tenths or hundredths of seconds. The top six places in this race were separated by less than a single second.
Senior Mack Brickley crossed the line one place better in the 800-meter run, finishing fourth to duck beneath the two-minute mark in a time of 1:59.21. Rounding out the solid individual performances by the sprint squad was Taylor Fitzgerald, who took sixth in the 400-meter dash in a quick 51.95 seconds.
The Eph jumpers fared well, taking home three top-10 finishes in the triple and long jumps. Sophomore John Dingee took a hop, skip and a jump to clear 13.12 meters on his way to third place in the triple jump. Senior David Kessel cleared 11.82 meters in the triple to land 10th place. In the long jump, Joe Song soared 6.28 meters on his way to 10th place, matching Kessel's finish.
The throwers, rather than jumping to victory, simply muster pure force and heave their way toward it. At the meet, senior Andrew DeSalvo led the throws squad with a fourth place finish, throwing the the shot put 14.91 meters.
The all-around solid finishes by the track and field team bode well for the coming season. According to assistant coach Mitchell Baker, the Dartmouth meet is an important steppingstone as the season gets under way.
"[The Dartmouth Relays] provide valuable experience prior to larger meets, so that we'll be more race-prepared mentally and physically," Baker said. "It served as a rust-buster for us. It's essentially a high-intensity run-through of meets in the future."
