Abbey D’Agostino ’14, Dana Giordano ’16, Meggie Donovan ’15 and Liz Markowitz ’16 did not expect to set a new record when they took to the Franklin Field track at the Penn Relays on April 25.
But the quartet managed to beat the previous Dartmouth, Ivy League and New England records for the women’s 4x1,500-meter relay on the second day of the event with a time of 17:20:87, over 24 seconds better than the previous Dartmouth record from two seasons ago.
Their time was good enough for third overall in the race, the oldest and largest track and field competition in America. Villanova University took first with a time of 17:16.52, followed by Stanford University’s 17:16.74.
“Penn is crazy because there’s so many fans and that’s something we don’t have at our meets typically,” Giordano said. “I think the four of us performed really well considering the amount of pressure.”
The quartet’s achievement is even more impressive considering that this was the first time the four had run a relay together.
“We were really excited because we had different levels of experience competing at this high of level, and those who didn’t have as much experience really rose to the occasion and the ones that did served as mentors,” D’Agostino said. “Overall, a great group that really valued working as a team.”
D’Agostino had the fastest individual time of the four, running her portion of the relay in 4:08.0. Giordiano had the second fastest individual time of the four with a 4:16.4 split. If the race was individual, D’Agostino would have broken her own record by nearly four seconds and Giordano would rank fourth in program history.
While the team was about four seconds behind second place, the runners were almost 15 seconds clear of the fourth-place team from the University of New Mexico.
Donovan highlighted the importance of recognizing the competition’s talent but not getting intimidated by other runners.
“It was a good experience for going up against high-caliber runners and knocking elbows with runners that are really fast so that you get that assurance that you belong,” Donovan said.
The four runners individually came into the race as the competition to beat. D’Agostino is a six-time NCAA Champion and a 13-time Ivy Champion. Giordano started her sophomore campaign strong with All-American honors at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Terre Haute, Indiana, this fall. Her success continued in the winter, when she won the Ivy title in the 3,000-meter race at the Ivy League Indoor Heptagonal Championships and earned two All-American honors at Indoor nationals.
Markowitz finished second to D’Agostino in the mile at indoor Heps in the winter and was part of the winning 4x800-meter relay team with D’Agostino and Donovan. At nationals, the sophomore earned All-American honors for her eighth place finish in the women’s distance medley relay. In addition to the 4x800-meter win, Donovan finished sixth in the 800-meter race at indoor Heps.
The Penn Relays draw competitors and spectators with more than 10 different levels of competition present. The Dartmouth quartet’s 4x1,500-meter relay was a part of the College Women’s Championship of America bracket, which brings together the top competition in the country.
“The great and hard things about Penn Relays is that it’s fun to do a relay, but it’s like you either win or it’s just not a big deal,” D’Agostino said. “We ran a great time, but we didn’t get first. That time would have won any other year, so it was a competitive year and we can’t complain about that.”
Going forward, the four will use their experience at the Penn Relays to inform their training for the upcoming Ivy League Heptagonal Championships.
To D’Agostino, the race was a boost in confidence.
“All the season successes have allowed us to prepare for Heps with comforted, confident mindsets,” she said. “And being so successful with the 4x1,500, I know we can kick butt with the 4x800.”
D’Agostino said that the new record emphasizes how far Dartmouth and its individual runners have come as a distance team and that they are finally seeing it manifested in their performance.
“Just to go out there and race for fun and enjoy the team aspect of it — that’s the best way for record- breaking to happen,” D’Agostino said.
The Ivy League Outdoor Heptagonal Championships will take place in New Haven, Connecticut, on May 10.
