The Middlebury women's track and field team finished in third place at the Division III New England Championships, highlighted by Emily Rubio and Cady Barns who broke school records. Earning the team crown was 12th-ranked MIT with 135 points, while #20 Tufts (75 points) and the Panthers (67 points) rounded out the top three. The top-eight finishers in each event earned All-New England honors.
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• Barns rewrote her own school records in both the long jump and the triple jump. The Panther hit the sand with a third-place distance of 5.84m in the long jump, bettering her previous program-leading jump of 5.66m. She followed that performance with a runner-up finish in the triple jump with a leap of 12.07m, improving on her school record of 11.92m. Each of the previous records was set by Barns during the 2022 season.  
• Rubio set a school record in the heptathlon with 4,477 points, eclipsing the previous mark of 4,419 set in 2017. She claimed victories in the 100-meter hurdles (14.91) and the 200 (26.26), while tying for the win in the high jump (1.61m).
• The 4x100 relay team of Melissa White, Michelle Louie, Eva Kaiden and Barns posted a third-place time of 47.94.
• Ciara Dale blazed across the line in third place during the 400 hurdles, posting a time of 1:03.41.
• Elle Thompson had a strong performance in the 800, clocking in at 2:15.56 which was good for fourth place.
• Kate Kenny crossed the line in fourth during the 3,000 steeplechase (10:58.20), while Audrey Grimes was seventh (11:12.68) and Tatum Peskin leaned over the line one spot behind in eighth (11:24.52).
• White garnered a pair of top-eight efforts. She was fifth in the 200 (25.58) and raced to seventh in the 100 (12.53). 
• Jaxon Palmer was fifth in the javelin, planting the spear in the ground at 37.84m. The toss is a personal-best distance.
• Zoe Wang cleared the bar in the pole vault at 3.50m to finish seventh, while Julia Tulimieri was seventh in the shot put at 12.29m.

NOTES

• The Panther women have finished in the top-10 places in the last 16 Division III New England Championships. Middlebury's third-place finish ties its best showing from the 2009 season.
• Tulimieri was also an indoor Division III All-New England honoree in the shot put. 

Middlebury will send a group of athletes to the Open New England Championships hosted by Northeastern next weekend.