Behind five event wins for the men and a relay victory on the women's side, the Middlebury men's track & field team finished with a program-best runner-up showing, while the women were third at the 2014 NESCAC Outdoor Championships hosted by Colby. Tufts claimed the men's crown with 178.90 points just ahead of Middlebury's 166.50 points, while the Williams women won the team title (179) ahead of Tufts (126) and Middlebury (109.50).
Taking home individual conference crowns on the men's side were Jake Wood, Taylor Shortsleeve, Alex Nichols and Jason McCallum. Wood was a victor in the 400m hurdles (53.39), while Shortsleeve earned a win in the high jump, clearing the bar at 6'2”. Also earning an individual title was Nichols in the 400m run crossing the line in 48.66, just ahead of teammate Peter Hetlzer in 49.23. McCallum took home the league title in the pole vault, clearing the bar at a height of 15'1”.
In the 4x400m relay race, the Panther quartet of Nichols, Bryan Holtzman, Fritz Parker and Hetzler led the field, winning by just .04 seconds with a time of 3:20.89. In other relays, the team of Kevin Chu, Holtzman, Parker and Adam Markun finished second in the 4x100 in 42.87.
Other top efforts were recorded by Holtzman, who finished second in the 200 (22.47) and fourth in the 100 (11.09), while Nichols was fourth in the 200 (22.64). In the 1500m run, Wilder Schaaf crossed the line third (3:55.57), while Sam Cartwright was fourth (3:56.06). Chu was the runner-up in the 110m hurdles (15.09), while Shortsleeve wound up third (15.20).
In addition to Shortsleeve in the high jump, Deklan Robinson also cleared 6'2”, finishing third due to the total number of jumps throughout the competition. Diego Galan Donlo cleared the high jump bar at 6'0”, good for fourth, while Robinson threw the javelin to a third-place distance of 173'11”.
In women's action, the 4x800 relay team comprised of Addis Fouche-Channer, Katherine Tercek, Olivia Artaiz and Summer Spillane stopped the clock with a first-place time of 9:30.22.
Alison Maxwell was the runner-up in the 800m run (2:15.44) and 1500m run (4:37.12), while Tercek was fourth in the 1500m run (4:40.40). Kathleen Rominger was third in the 5000m (17:37.59). Jackie Kearney was fourth in the 400m hurdles (1:06.41), while Spillane (11:03.15) and Abigail Pohl (11:18.86) were third and fourth in the 3000m steeplechase, respectively.
Off the track, Laura Strom matched Amherst's Kiana Herold with a height of 5'3.75” in the high jump, but finished second due to the total number of jumps. Hannah Blackburn was third in the long jump (17'6.75”) and triple jump (35'8.5”) events. Lauren Pincus claimed a runner-up finish in the javelin (135'11”), while Grace Wildermuth was fourth (125'5”).
