The Middlebury indoor track and field teams took part in a pair of invitationals on Saturday with the Panthers boasting a school record and a number of top finishes. The squads participated in the Dartmouth Indoor Classic at the Leverone Field House, while several other Panthers ran at the Cupid Challenge at Tufts in the Gantcher Family Sports and Convocation Center. Middlebury returns to the track next weekend, competing at both the David Hemery Valentine Invitational at Boston University and the Gordon Kelley Invitational at MIT.
At Tufts, Adrian Walsh led the women by winning the 5,000-meter run in a time of 17:12.63. She topped the field of 32 runners by more than 10 seconds.
The 4x400 relay team of Lucy Lang, Jackie Kearney, Paige Fernandez and Alexandra Morris finished second at Dartmouth. In the process, the quartet set a school record with a time of 3:56.72, topping the old mark of 3:59.11 set in 2011. The Panthers finished second overall in the race, trailing only the team from Dartmouth.
Middlebury had a strong showing in the 3,000-meter run with Abigail Nadler setting the pace. She won the event in 10:16.89, followed by teammates Katherine MacCary in fourth (10:29.74) and Robin Vincent in seventh (10:34.06).
The Panthers also placed three individuals in the top 10 during the mile run. Lauren Bougioukas was third in 5:08.20, while Alexis Jakubowski was eighth (5:21.47) and Claire Gomba took ninth (5:24.96).
Nicole Schachman boasted a time of 3:00.04 to place fourth in the 1,000, while Basia Osborne was the top Division III finisher in the 400 meters in 1:02.06 for a fifth-place effort.
High jumper Kristin Kimble tied for sixth with a height of 4'10.25", while Kreager Taber was seventh in the pole vault (10'6"), Perri Silverhart was seventh in the 400 (1:02.32) and Jane Freda finished in that same spot in the long jump (16'6").
For the men at Tufts, Sebastian Matt recorded a top-10 finish in the 5,000 with a time of 14:58.03.
The men were paced at Dartmouth by James Mulliken, who won the 500-meter run with a time of 1:06.16 to lead the field of 23 runners. Jimmy Martinez was second in the 200 meters, finishing the race in 22.78 seconds. He was the top collegiate finisher in the event, as the winner competed unattached.
Two more second-place performances were turned in by Brian Rich and John Natalone. Rich ran a time of 8:49.87 in the 3,000 meters, while Natalone cleared the bar at 15'1" in the pole vault.
Kevin Serrao was one of two Middlebury runners to place in the top 10 in the 800, taking third in 1:55.96. Teammate Lucas Carpinello was eighth in 1:58.79. The Panthers had two finishers in the top 10 places in the mile, as Connor Evans (4:21.51) was fifth and Jonathan Perlman was 10th (4:27.19).
Adding to the strong showing at Dartmouth, Robert Cassidy was fifth in the pole vault (13'7.25"), Tyler Farrell was sixth in the 60-meter high hurdles (8.77) and Tyler Chaisson was 10th in the shot put (45'11.75").
