The Middlebury indoor track and field teams took part on Saturday in the non-scoring Dartmouth Indoor Classic at the Leverone Field House. The Panthers recorded numerous top-10 efforts in a meet that featured all three NCAA divisions, highlighted by the nation's top 4x400-meter relay time. Middlebury returns to competition next weekend, participating at both the David Hemery Valentine Invitational at Boston University on Friday and Saturday and the Gordon Kelley Invitational at MIT on Saturday.
During men's action, the 4x400-meter relay team of Nicholas Hendrix, Jimmy Martinez, James Mulliken and Alex Nichols posted the nation's fastest time thus far of 3:18.67 to win the event by nearly six seconds.
Individually, Kevin Serrao was second in the mile (4:15.13), while Sam Klockenkemper was ninth (4:22.94). Jonathan Perlman also ran to a runner-up finish, stopping the clock in 2:31.41 during the 1,000-meter run.
Other top-10 finishes on the track were posted by Adam Markun in the 60-meter dash (7.15, fifth) and the 200-meter dash (23.02, seventh), while Connor Evans was sixth in the 3,000-meter run (8:44.68).
Off the track, Dylan Mortimer leapt to fifth in the triple jump (41'1.5"), Nathaniel Albers tied for eighth in the pole vault (13'8"), while Minhaj Rahman was ninth in the weight throw (46'0").
On the women's side, the 4x400-meter relay quartet of Meg Wilson, Sophie Steinberg, Anna Willig and Paige Fernandez crossed the line with the second-quickest time of 4:05.46.
As an individual, Wilson was second during the 800-meter run, posting the nation's third-best time of 2:14.10. Lucy Lang also finished sixth in the event with a time 2:18.27.
Additional top-10 efforts on the track were posted by Fernandez with a third-place run of 1:00.28 in the 400, while Willig was third in the 1,000 (2:58.28). Abigail Nadler earned a fourth-place time of 10:28.45 in 3,000, while Alyssa Taylor was 10th (10:42.86).
Away from the track, Mimi Soule hit the sand third in the triple jump (36'4.75"), while Kreager Taber was fifth in the pole vault (10'8"). Steinberg and Kristin Kimble tied for 10th in the high jump, both clearing the bar at 4'11".
