The rain didn’t let up all day at the annual Little Three meet, and unfortunately for the Cardinals, neither did the Williams track team.
The Ephs took first place on both the men’s and women’s sides, with the Williams men and women each scoring 158 points to Wesleyan’s 124 on the men’s side, good for second, and 60 on the women’s side, good for third. Several stars shone for Wesleyan, which dominated some events but drowned in others.
Of the 124 points scored by the men’s team, Sam Grover ’08 and Dan McLaughlin ’07 accounted for 31. Grover won the triple jump with a length of 45’10 1/2“ and placed second in both the high jump (5′ 103/4”) and long jump (21′ 11 1/2“). McLaughlin continued his string of hurdles dominance, winning both the 110m and 400m races with times of :16.28 and :56.70, respectively.
”I’ve been running well all year,“ McLaughlin said. ”Today everything just kind of came together. I’m just glad that it helped us beat Amherst.“
Chris Greene ’08 provided one of the gutsiest and best performances of the day in the 800, running a 1:55 to place second behind All-American Mike Davitian of Williams.
”I was feeling great after the first lap, so I took the lead and gapped the field in the second lap, but Davitian reeled me in on the final turn and ran me down,“ Greene said. ”But it was reassuring to finish less than a second behind a 4:10 miler.“
The most exciting race of the day was the men’s 5,000 where Alex Battaglino ’07 and Anda Greeney ’07 placed first (15:08) and second (15:09) in a close finish, running personal best times. After a first mile of 4:59, Battaglino dropped the pace to 4:50 in the second mile, before running a 4:43 final mile, with a 64-second final lap. Greeney relaxed off the back of the pack behind a few Williams and Amherst runners, before outkicking them in the final straightaway to place second. Nick Holowka also had a strong performance in the 5k, running 15:38 to place eighth in a very competitive field.
”It was a pretty awesome day for all of us in the 5k,“ Holowka said. ”We probably have the deepest distance squad in the NESCAC, which bodes well for the conference meet this weekend.“
The other 1-2 finish for Wesleyan was in the javelin, where seniors Dave Tutor and Dan Mays bested the field as Wesleyan destroyed an Amherst, team that could only muster 87 points.
Kristy Williams ’06 stole the show in the women’s meet, placing second in the shot put and hammer throw and third in the discus. Multi-talented freshman Kora Shin tossed a 91′ mark in the javelin, for second. All- American Ellen Davis ’07 finished second in the 1500m (4:42), behind NCAA 5k Champion Caroline Cretti of Williams.
The outdoor season continues next weekend as the teams travel to Bowdoin for the NESCAC Championships on April 29.