Two school records fell as the Middlebury track & field programs hosted the Middlebury Invitational in the Virtue Field House on the New Balance Foundation Track. John Natalone set a new program mark in the pole vault, while James Lynch established a new record in the heptathlon. The men claimed the meet title that consisted of eight schools with 185 points, outdistancing second-place Williams (140), while the women were second of six with 182.5 points behind the Ephs' winning total of 194. The Panthers return to competition when they take part in both the Tufts Cupid Challenge and Dartmouth Classic next Saturday.
On the men's side, the school records set by Natalone and Lynch were good for event victories. Natalone cleared the pole vault bar at 15'4.25", winning the event by nearly a foot. That eclipsed the old mark of 15'3.75" set back in 2000 by Andy Dixon. Lynch racked up 4,064 points during the seven disciplines, highlighted by wins in the 60-meter hurdles (9.08), high jump (5'10.5"), pole vault (10'0") and long jump (19'5.5"). His two-day total breaks the mark set by Conor Simons of 4,022 points set two years ago.
Additional individual wins on the track came from Brandon Cushman in the 500-meter run (1:08.89) and Michael Pallozzi during the 60-meter hurdles (8.67). In relay events, the 4x200 team of Alex Nichols, Jimmy Martinez, Jackson Bock and Adam Markun crossed the line first in 1:31.50. The distance medley relay of Kevin Serrao, Nichols, Martinez and Sam Cartwright was victorious with a time of 10:20.36.
Off the track, Deklan Robinson won the high jump competition, going over the bar at 6'4", just 0.25" off the school record for the event.
During the women's competition, the Panthers racked up four event victories. Paige Fernandez won the 500-meter run (1:21.72), Abigail Nadler led the field to the line in the 1,600-meter run (5:02.18), while the 4x400 relay of Halle Gustafson, Alexandra Morris, Lucy Lang and Jackie Kearney were victorious in 4:03.91.
In the heptathlon, Maddie Pronovost accumulated a total of 2,766 points to earn the title, including wins in four of the five disciplines. She won the 800-meter run (2:47.31), 60-meter hurdles (10.30), high jump (4'10.5") and the long jump (16'10").
Other top-two efforts came from Morris in the 400-meter dash (2nd, 58.77), Madison Goodstein in the 60-meter hurdles (2nd, 9.84) and the distance medley relay of Nicole Schachman, Fernandez, Lang and Robin Vincent (2nd, 12:12.82), the third-fastest time in the nation this winter.
In field events, Kreager Taber was second in the pole vault clearing the bar at 10'6".
