The Panther men's and women's indoor track and field teams participated in the New York City Division III Invitational on Friday. Middlebury's women had a strong showing with 48 points to place second among the 27 scoring schools, while the men finished tied for 10th place (23) out of 27 programs. Johns Hopkins (122 points) ran away with the women's title, while the Blue Jays (85.5) also took top honors for the men. Middlebury is back in action on February 8, competing at the Tufts Cupid Challenge.
On the men's side, Nathan Hill led the large field of 81 runners in the mile, taking first overall with a clocking of 4:14.72. Liam Hoagland finished ninth in the same race in 4:21.21. Middlebury had three runners place in the top 15 in the 800 meters, as Sawyer Tadano (1:57.77) led the way with a fifth-place performance. Quinlan McGaugh (1:59.02) was 11th and Max Cluss (1:59.46) was 13th.
In the field events, Nathaniel Klein claimed third in the shot put with a heave of 14.27 meters, while teammate Ryan Whitney was 11th with a toss of 12.85 meters. Justin Moran sailed 6.45 meters in the long jump, placing seventh. Klein also registered a top-10 finish in the 35-pound weight throw, claiming eighth place with a heave of 14.29 meters.
For the Panther women, Cassie Kearney ran a swift time of 5:00.38 in the mile, placing second out of 71 competitors. Meg Wilson finished in that same position in the 800 meters in 2:16.40, while Emily Bulczynski claimed fifth place in 2:17.15.
Middlebury had a pair of runners advance to the finals in the 60-meter dash, as Lizzie Walkes (8.12) was fifth and Ellie Greenberg (8.19) took eighth. In the 3,000 meters, Sophie Nardelli placed fifth (10:36.50), while Phoebe Colvin Oehmig finished four spots later in 10:51.38.
Gretchen McGrath ran a time of 59.80 seconds in the 400 meters, coming in sixth place.
Grace Desmond had a big meet for the Panthers, placing in the top 10 in three events. Her top performance was in the high jump, clearing a height of 1.50 meters, while claiming fourth in the 60-meter high hurdles with a time of 9.22 seconds. Desmond rounded out the meet claiming sixth in the long jump with a distance of 5.21 meters.
Cady Barns (10.39 meters) added seventh-place finish in the triple jump.
