The Middlebury men's and women's track & field teams opened the outdoor portion of the schedule Saturday, competing at the PNLU Collegiate Invitational hosted by Point Loma Nazarene. The Panther men won the invitational collecting 303.5 points among 13 scoring teams, edging out Tufts with 289. The women finished in a fourth-place tie with Rowan among 14 scoring squads with 230 points, trailing only Williams (246), Cal Poly Pomona (243) and the host Sea Lions (231). The Panthers continue their spring trip out west, participating in the California Collegiate Invitational next Saturday hosted by UC San Diego.
On the men's side, Minhaj Rahman carried over his impressive indoor season by winning the hammer throw with a school-record toss of 183'6". He claimed the event by six feet and eclipsed the previous Middlebury record of 181'10" by Adam Dreiblatt in 1999. Off the track, Daniel Brey was second in the javelin throw (159'9"), Jonathan Fisher finished third in the high jump (6'0"), while John Natalone matched that place in the pole vault 14'5.25".
Also earning an event victory was Miles Meijer, who won the 3,000-meter steeplechase event on the track in 9:45.52 as the Panthers finished with the top-three spots. Thomas Tarantino was second with a mark of 9:46.09, while Jack Litowitz was third (9:55.07).
The 4x100-meter relay team of Conrado Banky, Arden Coleman, Matthew Durst and Nicholas Hendrix finished second with a time of 42.58. Additional top-three efforts on the track came from Jimmy Martinez, who was second in the 400 meters (48.78), while Nathan Hill was the runner up in the 1,500 meters (3:51.89). Theodore Henderson crossed the line second during the 5,000 meters (15:01.93), while teammate Will Meyer was right behind in third (15:03.82).
For the women, the Panthers earned two event titles. Julia Lothrop won the javelin with a toss of 128'2", while teammate Rebecca Gorman was second just three inches behind that mark (127'11"). Katherine MacCary raced across the line first during the 5,000 meters with a time of 17:52.50 to win by 1:05.84, while Abigail Nadler was third (19:12.94).
Other runner-up finishes came from Katelyn Pease in the 800 meters (2:17.48), Julia Munz during the 400-meter hurdles (1:05.79), while the 4x400-meter relay team of Lucy Lang, Munz, Kate Holly and Ava O'Mara was second in 3:57.76. Nadler also posted a third-place run in the 1,500 meters (4:33.81).
Away from the track, Kreager Taber cleared the bar in third during the pole vault competition (11'5.25").
