The men's and women's track teams competed separately last weekend, the men at an invitational hosted by Northeastern and the women at the University of Massachusetts.
Men's team:
UMass barely edged out the Big Green men at Northeastern for a first-place finish with 64 points. The University of Rhode Island trailed Dartmouth by 16 points for third place, while Northeastern finished fourth with 31.
Adam Nelson '97 continued his landmark progress this weekend in the shotput.
After throwing two NCAA provisional qualifying throws during his last two meets, Nelson broke the 60 foot mark for the second time in his career, winning with a 61-2 3/4.
Along with setting a new school record, Nelson's throw was the best seen this year among Heptagonal, New England and IC4A contestants. It also reached both the NCAA and Olympic Trials provisional qualifying standards.
Coach Barry Harwick was impressed with Nelson's performance. "It was incredible," he said. "There are no guarantees, but in my experience, Adam will now make the NCAA's, and he's a strong bet for Olympic Trials."
Also on the field, Nelson and teammate Alex Ghanotakis '97 both excelled in the discus. Ghanotakis won with a 180-2, while Nelson finished second with a 173-3. Both throws were NCAA provisionals. Ghanotakis's performance put him as a favorite to win Heps in early May.
Several Big Green runners had personal records. In the 100 meter, Eric Szegda '97 broke 11 seconds for the first time in his collegiate career with a time of 10.96. In his leg of the four by 400 meter relay, Szegda set another PR with a 49.9.
Jim Tuxbury '97 won the 1,500 meter with a PR of 3:54.85.
Lane Burks '97 also turned in a strong showing, winning both the long jump (23-5 1/2) and the triple jump (48-1 1/4). Jon Wilde won the pole vault with a height of 14-6, while Steve Clark '97 won a 6-8 in the high jump.
Gordon Spaeth '98 was in action at a track meet hosted by Holy Cross, placing third in the decathlon. He finished the hurdles in 17.01 seconds, broke 130 feet in the discus, cleared 12-10 1/2 in the pole vault, threw 146 feet in the javelin, and ran a 5:16.95 in the 1500 meter.
Women's team:
The women finished third to UMass and the University of New Hampshire at UMass Saturday. UMass won with 133 points, followed by UNH with 103 points, while the Big Green came up with 95 points.
Dierdre Milligan '98 won the 3,000 meter with a 10:16, the only victorious Big Green athlete. Beth Crenshaw '99 finished second in the 3,000 meter, four seconds behind Milligan.
Pilar Rodriguez also contributed to the team points with a second in the long jump (16-11) and the triple jump (35-11). Helene Sisti finished second in the 100 meter high hurdles with a 16.30 and in the 400 meter intermediate hurdles with a 66.10.
On the field, Wendy Skelton '99 finished third in the shotput (39-4) and discus (124).
Rodriguez said that the team suffered from strong winds on the track. "Some of the times were bad," she said. "There was tons of wind on the straightaways." Overall she said the day was "nothing special."
While Dartmouth will host the Dartmouth Invitational this weekend in Hanover, neither of the squads will be competing with a full lineup. Instead, a group of athletes selected from each team will head for Philadelphia to represent the Big Green in the Penn Relays.
