Coming off an indoor season where six track and field athletes earned All-American honors, records were shattered, one runner eclipsed the sub-four minute mile barrier and one woman became the first female runner to win both the 3,000 and 5,000-meter run in back-to-back indoor championship meets, expectations are high for the outdoor season.
Some members of the track team traveled to South Carolina to train over spring break, but many will compete for the first time outdoors this weekend at the Sam Howell Invitational at Princeton University.
Athletes who competed at the NCAA indoor championships in Albuquerque, N.M., did not have a long break after their indoor season, which ended March 15.
“This year there wasn’t really a transition from indoor to outdoor for many athletes,” men’s head coach Barry Harwick said. “Indoor goes directly into the outdoor season, and we’re really hoping all the work translates.”
Dartmouth runners will use this meet as a check-in point to determine their fitness levels and reacclimate to competing. The biggest difference is the track length — the outdoor track is 400 meters, double the length of the indoor track.
“It’s good to have this first race where we travel to have a change of pace,” Helen Schlachtenhaufen ’17 said. “A lot of training has been pretty consistent over the winter going into spring, so everyone is ready to start racing again.”
Will Geoghegan ’14, who will run the 1,500-meter race this weekend, said some athletes will try to hit regional qualifying times this weekend. Big Green athletes only have a little over a month to prepare for championship racing, which begins May 10 with the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships hosted by Yale University.
“The season is so short for a lot of people,” Geoghegan said, “so they need to make every race count.”
After the teams’ only scheduled home meet of the season was canceled due to unfavorable weather, both teams have only nine meets on the schedule before Ivy Championships.
Silas Talbot ’15, who skied for the Nordic team in the winter, returns to the track this spring. Geoghegan expects Talbot to perform well in the 1,500-meter and 5,000-meter races. The junior finished sixth in the 1,500-meter run at the Ivy Championships his sophomore season, with a time of 3:49.00. Talbot is also coming off an appearance at the NCAA cross country national championships, where he finished 228th overall.
Harwick expects numerous underclassmen to have breakout seasons, including Curtis King ’16, who performed well for the Big Green in the 5,000-meter run during the indoor Heptagonal Championships and will transition to the 10,000-meter run this season. In the indoor Ivy Championships, King finished ninth in the 3,000-meter run and fifth in the 5,000-meter run.
Both teams will look to build upon their strong finishes at the March competition. At the indoor Ivy Championships, the women’s team had its best performance since 1996, finishing second while the men came in sixth.
Harwick said that events like the hammer throw, javelin, discus and 400-meter hurdles, which are not included in indoor competition, will help the Big Green. Henry Sterling ’14 in steeplechase and Melissa Dunham ’17 in discus as athletes to watch, he said.
Both Harwick and Geoghegan look to the Penn Relays, which take place April 24-26, as the beginning of championship season. The historic meet will be followed quickly by the Ivy Championships, regionals and nationals. Geoghegan said the Big Green will compete in the 4 x mile relay, an event that could be a great strength for Dartmouth as four of the best milers in school history will run.
