The Middlebury track and field teams posted a pair of impressive overall performances Saturday, including a school record in the 600-meter dash by Jimmy Martinez, during the Smith College Beynon Invitational. The Panther women racked up 120.5 points for a runner-up finish behind WPI's total of 151.5 points out of 15 squads competing, while the men scored 127.5 points to finish third behind WPI (171.5) and Amherst (136). The Panthers return to action Friday and Saturday when they host the Middlebury Invitational. Action Friday is scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m., while Saturday's events will start at 11:00 a.m.
During the men's competition, Martinez raced to event victories in the 600-meter run as well as the 200-meter dash in his second collegiate meet. In the 600, he broke a 12-year old school record, crossing the line in 1:22.96. That time eclipses Kevin Bright's previous time of 1:23.19 set back in 2004. Martinez sprinted across the line in 22.79 to claim the 200.
The third event victory by an individual was tallied by Kevin Serrao, who led the field to the finish line during the 1,000-meter run with a time of 2:30.59.
In the 4x200 relay, the Panther quartet of Adam Markun, Jackson Bock, Brandon Cushman and Alex Nichols raced around the track with a winning time of 1:33.45.
Other top-three performances came from James Mulliken in the 800-meter run (2nd, 1:59.54), while Lucas Carpinello was third (2:00.56). Sam Cartwright finished second in the mile run (4:22.78), while teammate Brian Rich was third (4:25.13) as the Panthers finished in spots two through six at the conclusion of the event. Cushman wound up third in the 400-meter dash (52.73), while Tyler Farrell was third behind Martinez in the 600 (1:25.88).
In women's action, the Panthers tallied four individual event victories on the track. Sasha Whittle recorded the top time out of 34 competitors in the mile with a mark of 5:09.15, as the Panthers tallied the top-four spots in the race. Nicki Schachman was second (5:10.51), Lauren Bougioukas finished third (5:10.93), while Robin Vincent was right behind in fourth (5:11.49).
Halle Gustafson was victorious in the 600-meter dash crossing the line in 1:42.39, while Kate McCluskey was second (1:43.31) and Perri Silverhart ended up third (1:44.07).
Other wins were tallied by Lucy Lang during the 800-meter run in 2:18.18, just ahead of a runner-up effort from Alexandra Morris (2:19.75). Katherine MacCary claimed the 3,000-meter run by 3.6 seconds in 10:31.88.
Additional top-three performances came from Natalie Cheung, who was second in the 200-meter dash (27.20) and Paige Fernandez in the 400-meter dash (3rd, 1:00.98).
