The Cardinals recorded numerous competitive finishes at the Tufts Stampede on Saturday, January 28. Both the men and the women competed against 17 other schools, including NESCAC foes Tufts and Conn College. Several Wesleyan students posted impressive individual times, especially the women, who were responsible for many of the Cards’ top finishes.

Katie Maehl ’19 reached 4.85m in the long jump, finishing third, while Casey Rothschild ’20 came in sixth, jumping 4.75m. Rhoen Fiutak ’19 took third in the mile run, crossing the line in 5:18.72. Jenny Aguiar ’19 ran the 400m dash in 58.83 and the 200m dash in 26.56, finishing third in both of those. Caroline Elmendorf ’17 placed sixth in the 5000m at 18:19.20, but Molly Schassberger ’17 had the greatest success in that event, winning the race with a time of 17:50.48.

Among the men, Andrew McCracken ’19 landed sixth in the pole vault, vaulting 3.95m, while Wesley Layug ’17 took seventh in the triple jump, jumping 12.22m.

On the track, Shota Nakamura ’19 finished fourth in the mile with a time of 4:25.96. Reid Hawkins ’17 came in fourth in the 5000-meter run with a 15:31.16 finish. Frank McField ’20 ran the 200-meter dash in 23.26 seconds, taking sixth. Connor Sexton ’20 finished seventh in the 3k with a time of 8:46.32, placing him within reach of the top rookies in the nation.

“Connor Sexton? He’s the 3k hero,” said Rosie Skovron ’20. “He’s pretty speedy.”

One week before that, on Saturday, Jan. 21, the Cards competed at the Smith Invitational, where the men came in fifth out of eight teams, behind Williams in fourth and ahead of Castleton University in sixth. Assumption College won the event, while fellow NESCAC foes Amherst and Conn College came in second and third, respectively.

In the field, McCracken won the pole vault with a height of 4.28m, while Jessy Carrasco-Gonzalez ’18 came in second at 3.95m. On the track in the 1000m run, Will Dudek ’17 took fourth and Grant Van Inwegen ’20 took fifth with times of 2:35.70 and 2:36.19, respectively. Colin Mahoney ’18 finished fifth in the 800m after 2:05.52 of running. Tate Knight ’18 came up just short of a win in the mile with a second-place time of 4:24.91, while Sexton finished right behind him in third with a time of 4:24.93. McField won the 400m dash in a speedy 51.70 seconds.

The women put on a show in the 800m, where the Cardinals won all three of the placing spots, with particularly dominating performances from Aguiar and Claudia Schatz ’19. Aguiar came in first with a time of 2:22.16, while Schatz finished second in 2:22.23, and Isabella Reilly ’19 placed third with a result of 2:28.82. The team nearly replicated that success in the pole vault, where two first-years placed. Rothschild won the event with 3.05m and Tara Peng ’20 came in third at 2.90m. Rothschild also took second in the triple jump with a leap of 10.73m.

Another dual success in the field came from Caroline Diemer ’18, who finished second in the weight throw with 11.96m and finished fifth in the shot put with a 10.51m heave. The team saw a similar feat from Alex Dibrindisi ’19. Dibrindisi finished the 400m in 1:00.29 for second, and the 200m in 27.92 seconds for fifth. Fiutak took third place in the 3000m with 10:40.18. Sylwia Lipior ’18 ran third in the 600-meter with 1:45.88. In the mile, Schassberger (5:13.47) took second and Elmendorf (5:21.76) crossed the line in fourth. The Cards won the 4x400m relay in 4:19.80 with the team of Schatz, Lipior, Christina Hebner ’17, and Reilly firing on all cylinders and clicking on their handoffs.

Schassberger, Elmendorf, Schatz, Reilly, Fiutak, Sexton, Knight, Van Inwegen, and Dudek all qualified for Division III New England Regionals with their weekend times.

The women’s team came in third out of eleven teams, behind Assumption in first and Amherst trailing. Conn College came in fifth while Williams took sixth place.

Before that, on Saturday, Jan. 14, the Little Three had its championship, where the women took second behind the Ephs and the men took third, with the Purple and Gold also at the apex of the podium.

Amherst’s ability to compete at full strength may have been affected by its internal state of affairs, as the team has been embroiled in scandal and discord. The Amherst men’s cross country team, which shares most of its distance athletes with track and field, has been suspended over racist and misogynistic language sent via their school emails. Much of this language was in reference to members of the women’s distance athletes, which indicates troublesome team dynamics.

The team prepares for the Wesleyan Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 10 a.m.