5/3/04 - The Middlebury College track and field teams were both in action last week at the New England Championships. The men's team placed 8th of 25 teams at Williams, while the women were 6th of 28 squads at Springfield.

Winning the decathlon event at the meet was Middlebury sophomore Khristoph Becker (Media, Pa.). Also earning N.E. Champion status was sophomore Kevin Bright (Sharon, Mass.) with a time of 53.05 in the 400 hurdles. Placing fifth in the 1500 race was junior Nick Digani (Northfield, Ill.) with a time of 4:00.24, while sophomore Steve Atkinson (Huntingdon, Que.) finished fifth with a toss of 182'8" in the javelin. Finishing third was the 4x100 relay team of juniors Liam Aiello (Middletown, Conn.), Phil Ford (Stamford, Conn.), Greg Lazerus (St. Louis, Mo.), along with senior Tony Garafano (Colchester, Vt.) with a time of 43.24.

Junior Jessica Manzer (Palatine Bridge, N.Y.) was crowned the New England Champion in the 800 with her time of 2:15.63. Placing second in the 400 hurdles was senior Maryanne Porter (W. Roxbury, Mass.) with a time of 1:03.36, followed by a third place finish from junior Sarah Berkowitz (Media, Pa.) in the pole vault (10'2"). Placing fifth in the high jump was senior Joanna Logue (Hingham, Mass.) with a 5'1" effort, while sophomore Whitney Creed (Farmington, Conn.) finished fifth in the hammer with a toss of 44.82 meters. Middlebury's other top finisher was rookie Christine Bolger (Edina, Minn.), who finished sixth in the 400 with a time of 1:01.15.