Benjamin Hughes won the 1,500-meter run, highlighting the Middlebury men's outdoor track and field team efforts as the Panthers recorded several top-five finishes and personal-best performances. Middlebury competed at the Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU) Ross and Sharon Irwin Invitational in California during spring break. The meet featured athletes from all three NCAA divisions as well as the NAIA. 
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• Benjamin Hughes won the 1,500-meter run with a victorious time of 3:55.46. Teammate Shef West was fifth in the event with a personal-best clocking of 3:57.84.
• Lachlan Bishop was the runner-up in the 800m with a collegiatel-best time of 1:54.35, while Zach Utz was right behind in third place (1:55.02) and Raymond Pavlik was fourth with a season-low effort of 1:56.13.
• In one of the last events of the meet, Alec Gironda finished second in the 5,000m crossing the finish line in 14:53.14. 
• Another runner-up showing came from Joel Kofman in the pole vault. Kofman cleared the bar with a career-best height of 4.55m, just ahead of Henry Ericson who placed third at 4.40m.  
• The Panthers tallied a pair of top-five showings during the final event on the track. The 4x400 relay quartet of Colin Breen, Xander Swann, Parker Loupessis and Daryl Edwards finished second with a time of 3:23.91. Middlebury's second team composed of Bishop, Charles Kessler, Pavlik and Utz ran to fourth in 3:32.44. 
• Earlier in the day, Loupessis was fourth in his first collegiate race outdoors, crossing the line with a time of 56.52 in the 400m hurdles. 
• Aiden Tam posted a fourth-place finish in the 110m hurdles with a clocking of 15.25.
• Sam McGarrahan was second in the high jump, clearing the bar at 1.91m and was fourth in the long jump (6.43m). 
• Dave Filias placed third in the hammer throw with a heave of 51.86m and fifth in the shot put with a collegiate-best toss of 14.58m. 
• Caleb Smith was fifth in the javelin, tossing the spear to a distance of 48.07m. 

NOTES

• Other personal-record performances came from Breen who was sixth in the 400m (50.24), while Filias also tallied a personal-best toss of 35.30m in the discus.
• Frederick Alfonso-Frank ran to a top-10 effort with a time of 16:26.09 in the 5,000, his initial collegiate outdoor race.

The Panthers will remain in California and compete at the Mangrum Invitational hosted by San Marcos on Friday and the PLNU Collegiate Open on Saturday.