Williams Claims Men's & Women's Track & Field Championships

Courtesy Wesleyan Sports Information

Complete Results

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – Williams College won the NESCAC men's and women's track and field titles on Saturday afternoon at Wesleyan University. The Ephs won their 11th consecutive women's title outright, while the men's team took their 11th crown, having shared the championship with Tufts in 2007.

Williams easily outscored the field on the men's side for its 21st title in the 26-year history of the event as the Ephs accumulated 188.5 points, 66 more than second-place Bates and 76 ahead of third-place Middlebury. The Williams faced a stiffer challenge from runner-up Middlebury on the women's side but pulled away from a slim one-point lead after 15 events had been scored to win by 31 points on the final tally. It was the 19th meet victory for the Eph women.

Sophomore Jabulani Blyden was the man of the hour for Williams as he captured three individual men's titles, taking both the 110m hurdles and the 400m hurdles, as well as the 400m dash. His time of :54.21 in the 400 hurdles was good enough for NCAA provisional qualification. That accounted for three of the Ephs' five wins as senior Steve Rubin claimed the long jump title and sophomore Stephen Simalchik took first in the javelin. Amherst and Middlebury each picked up four men's titles as the Lord Jeffs got a pair of wins from junior Ben Scheetz in the 800m and 1500m, complemented by first-place efforts by senior John McGrail in the 5k and the 4x400m relay, which included Scheetz in the anchor leg. Panther champions included the distance medley relay, first-year Peter Hezler in the 200m, sophomore Jack Davies in the 3k steeple chase in a provisional NCAA time (9:13.97), and senior Michael Schmidt in the 10k.

Colby and Bates each came through with a trio of titles. The Mules won the 4x100m relay which was anchored by individual 100m champ sophomore Dominique Kone, and also got a winning effort by sophomore Trent Wiseman in the pole vault. The Bobcats took all their titles in throwing events, a long suit for Bates over the years, as senior Chris Murtagh had a provisional NCAA toss of 57.13m (187-5) in the hammer to go along with the discus win of senior Ethan Waldman. One of the most impressive performances of the day on the men's side was the winning shot put of Bates sophomore David Pless, who broke the NESCAC meet record by more than three feet (17.24m - 56–6 3/4) and qualified automatically for the NCAA Championships. Equally impressive was the lone win for Wesleyan on the day by junior Tommie Lark, whose 14.93m (48-11 3/4) leap in the triple jump snapped the previous NESCAC meet record by more than a foot and gave him an automatic spot in the NCAAs. The remaining men's title went to Tufts sophomore Michael Blair in the high jump.

In the women's meet, Williams proved that it's not always the quality of the scoring but occasionally the quantity of the scorers that bring championships. Williams had only three first-place finishes on the day while Middlebury doubled that with six and even third-place Tufts had five, but it wasn't enough to overcome the Ephs who had eight second-place and eight third-place finishes to their credit.

First-year Chiara Del Piccolo ran away from the field in the 10k for a margin of victory of 1:46 for Williams. A win by senior Tina Meade in the 5k and the long jump triumph of sophomore Brooke Johnson rounded out the Williams' top honors. Of the remaining 18 titles won by members of five other teams, 11 were good for provisional NCAA qualification and one qualified automatically for the NCAAs. Two were NESCAC meet records. Those came from Tufts sophomore Kelly Allen in the discus as her 46.44m (152-4) toss bettered the field by nearly 14 feet and put her into the NCAAs with a NESCAC meet standard, and Middlebury senior Kaitlyn Saldanha, who covered 800m in 2:11.15. That was a second faster than any previous NESCAC Championships entrant and is a solid provisional time.

Other Panthers winners included senior Annie Rowell in the 100m, junior Mia Martinez in the 110m hurdles (:14.89 – provisional), junior Margo Cramer in the 3k steeple chase (10:49.77 – provisional) and the 4x400m relay and the 4x800m relay. Tufts other four titles all came in NCAA provisional fashion. First-year Jana Hieber took the 400m hurdles (1:03.39), senior Amy Wilfert captured the 1500m (4:34.06), sophomore Ronke Oyekunle won the shot put (12.88 - 42–3 1/4), and junior Nakeisha Jones was the top performer in the triple jump (11.82 - 38–9 1/2).

Bates had two athletes come through with provisional achievements – senior Dana Lindauer in the 400m (:57.14) and senior Sara Ellen Godek in the hammer (49.20m - 161–5). Senior Danielle Sheppard and first-year Brittany Reardon gave Colby individual crowns in the high jump and pole vault, respectively, the former in NCAA provisional style (1.70m - 5-7). Colby also took the 4x100m relay. The last two titles went to Bowdoin junior Elsa Millett in the 200m and Trinity junior Sarah Ciarleglio with an NCAA provisional toss of 41-12m (134-11) in the javelin.