The Panther track & field teams opened the Virtue Field House and New Balance Foundation Track in style with convincing victories for both the men and the women on Saturday during the Middlebury Winter Classic. The Panther men scored 260 points, 111 points ahead of second-place Springfield, while the women tallied 257.5 points, just ahead of Springfield's 216.5. The meet, which featured Castleton, Hamilton, Springfield and Middlebury, was the first event held in the state-of-the-art facility that opened its doors in January of 2015. The Panther squads will return to action next Saturday at the Smith Invitational.

On the men's side, the Panthers picked up victories in a total of nine events. Alex Nichols won the 200-meter dash (23.15), Jimmy Martinez led the field to line in the 400-meter dash (50.60), while Andrew Michelson was victorious in the 1,000-meter run (2:40.7). Kevin Serrao picked up the win in the 1-mile run (4:26.38), Brian Rich stopped the clock first in the 3,000-meter run (8:59.14), while Tyler Farrell won the 60-meter hurdles (8.76).

The Panther 4x400 relay of Lucas Carpinello, Nichols, Brandon Cushman and Martinez won with a time of 3:29.76.

Off the track, John Natalone cleared the bar at 14'5.25" to win the pole vault, while Daniel Plunkett won the shot put with a toss of 46'2.75".

During the women's competition, the Panthers were victorious in eight events. Robin Vincent was a two-time individual winner in both the 1,000-meter run (3:05.40) and the 1-mile run (5:13.33), while Alexandra Morris ran the fastest time in the 400-meter dash (58.00).

Other victories came from Lucy Lang during the 500-meter run (1:17.55), Isabella Alfaro in the 800-meter run (2:26.02) and Adrian Walsh beating the field to the line in the 3,000-meter run (10:25.83).

The 4x400 relay of Morris, Lang, Paige Fernandez and Halle Gustafson posted the winning time of 4:04.97.

In field events, Kreager Taber won the pole vault clearing the bar at 10'6".

Prior to the meet, alumni races were held, including the one-mile race that featured 91-year old Dixon Hemphill '49.