By: Scott Rodilitz, @FloRodilitz
Another great season of racing is in the books, and though many people may be ready to move on to the sunshine and soft curves of the outdoor season, here’s a quick recap of the final day of indoor nationals.
Women’s Mile
After seeing mile favorite Maryann Gong of MIT get outkicked in the DMR last night, Middlebury decided to use their numbers to take the race out somewhat slowly. With Alison Maxwell leading the way and Sarah Guth and Summer Spillane slightly behind, Gong was forced out to lane two in order to keep close to the lead. After crossing halfway in 2:35, Hannah Chappel-Dick of Eastern Mennonite took over the lead and ratcheted down the pace. Maxwell took back over a lap later, but as they reached 400 in 3:49, Gong took the lead and went into a drawn out kick for home. Maxwell and Chappel-Dick hung on, but a gap opened up between the top three and the Middlebury duo of Guth and Spillane. Heading into the final curve, Maxwell made a bid for the lead that Gong could not hold off, stealing a surprising victory in 4:56.17, courtesy of a blistering 67 second last quarter. Chappel-Dick would also get around in the last straightaway, sending Gong to a disappointing third. Sanjuanita Martinez of Cornell College again closed well for fourth while Spillane and Guth took the next two slots to cap a great race for the Panthers.
Men’s Mile
Roberto Lara of UW Oshkosh took the field through halfway in a reasonable 2:06, at which point Joel Walden of UW Platteville took the lead. The pace began to lag, and 1100 in, Will Cross of Elmhurst took over and began to string out the pack. He held the lead until 300 to go, when both Paul Escher of St. Olaf and Ian McDonald of Washington and Lee made a bid for the lead. Escher just managed to edge his way in front and never looked back, cruising to a 58 second last lap and a 4:10.20 final time. While he crossed the line holding up his team’s trademark “O,” a fierce battle for second developed between McDonald, Cross, and freshman Isaac Garcia-Cassani of SUNY Geneseo, who ran a very patient race before pouncing in the final lap. McDonald, with a lean, ended up in second by .05 while Garcia-Cassani took third by an even smaller margin. Lara, the early leader, hung on for fifth.
Women’s 800
Rachel Shine of SUNY Oneonta and Taylor Moore of Wartburg helped this final get off to a quick start. Shine took the lead coming off the two-turn waterfall start, and she brought the field through in 63 seconds for the first 400. Defending indoor champ Kylee Verhasslet looked like she wanted to make a move at this point, but a bump as she attempted to move out wide kept her in the middle of the pack. At the bell lap, Cynthia Adams of Lebanon Valley moved decisively and only Verhasselt truly gave chase. However, after six prior trips to nationals in the 800, Adams would not be denied a victory in her final collegiate race. She cruised to a 2:08.81 victory, the fastest time in the division this year by a wide margin. Verhasselt would settle for second while Shine and Moore held on for third and fourth respectively.
Men’s 800
Motivated by his teammate’s victory in the women’s 800, Michael Harnish of Lebanon Valley led the men’s field through 800, albeit in a pedestrian 58 second quarter. Favorite Mitchell Black of Tufts and outdoor champion Andrew Carey followed closely behind, but no one made a move until the bell lap, when Black unleashed an unmatchable display of speed. Harnish attempted to hold him in lane two, but Black quickly took over the lead and ran away with victory in an impressive negative split, yielding a final time of 1:51.94. Harnish crossed the line a second later, well ahead of third place finisher Carey and the rest of the field. Seth Woodson of Buena Vista was fourth, and Thomas Vandenburg of Carnegie Mellon claimed fifth after doing the same an hour prior in the men’s 400.
Women’s 3k
After yesterday’s debacle in the 5k, everyone anxiously awaited a rematch between Lucy Cheadle of Wash U and Amy Regan of Stevens Institute. The two wasted no time getting out to the front, and they ran side-by-side for a large portion of the race. Though the duo—Regan especially—tend to run aggressively, this time they stayed at a comfortable 5:20 pace until 800 to go, no faster than the pace they maintained for 5k the night prior. Perhaps the two were content to leave this to a kick, or perhaps the craziness and frustration of the previous evening had taken a toll on their mental and physical energy. With 400 to go, Cheadle had slowly brought the pace down, but the lead group was still six runners strong and all looked ready for fast closes. After learning from her defeat the mile, Maryann Gong waited until the bell to make her decisive move, and this time victory came easily. Her 33 second last lap gave her a comfortable win in 9:47.62, while Regan and Cheadle would fade to fourth and sixth respectively. Abrah Masterson of Cornell College and Lucy Romquist of UW Eau Claire ran patient races and kicked well to get second and third, while Laura Mead of UW La Crosse moved up in the latter stages of the race to claim fifth.
Men’s 3k
Perhaps taking note of the women’s race, co-favorite Grant Wintheiser of St. Olaf decided not to leave it to a kick. He took off from the gun at a devastating early pace. Other co-favorite Charlie Marquardt of Haverford moved quickly into second, and it looked at first like we would get the head to head battle that we had waited for all weekend. However, as Wintheiser stuck to 8-flat pace, Marquardt backed off, and a three second gap opened up by the first thousand. Matt Gianino of RIT attempted to bridge that gap, but he never quite made it up to join the cross country national champ. Wintheiser completed the first mile in 4:19, two seconds up on Gianino and nearly four on the rest of the field, putting him on pace for an 8:06 finishing time. However, Wintheiser’s pace began to lag before the 2k mark, and his glances backward became more and more obvious. Meanwhile, about three seconds behind, Gianino was swallowed up by a six-man chase pack led by Josh Thorson of UW Eau Claire, who showed during the DMR that he is capable of erasing massive leads. As Wintheiser gritted his teeth entering the final lap, Thorson continued to eat up ground only ten meters behind. He had dropped the entire chase pack except for Wintheiser’s teammate, Jake Campbell. Just when it looked like Thorson was destined for the win, Campbell got around him in the backstretch. He continued to roll, blowing by his barely-moving teammate in the final straight to win in a shocking 8:10.55. Thorson, like Wintheiser, tied up badly in the last straight, and Wintheiser was somehow able to hang on to give the Oles the 1-2 finish that they needed to secure a team podium finish. Last night’s 5k champion, Travis Morrison of North Central, finished a distant fourth while Marquardt ended up in fifth.
Women’s Team Title
Though it looked like Illinois Wesleyan was well on their way to a national title last night, the tide turned today in the women’s triple jump when Bria Halama of UW La Crosse won and teammate Bailey Alston picked up some additional points. Illinois Wesleyan was supposed to outscore the Eagles by around eight points in that event, but instead the opposite happened. In fact, the momentum shifted so drastically that Illinois Wesleyan could not even mount a challenge heading in to the final event. Instead, it was WIAC rival UW Oshkosh who posed the only real threat to UW La Crosse. The Titans were in contention until the end, thanks to a strong second place finish in the 800 and an impressive anchor leg on the 4x400 by Kylee Verhasselt. However, UW La Crosse would not be denied, as they won the 4x400 and secured their first track national title since 1984. Between then and now, the Eagles had finished in second on nine separate occasions—five times indoors and thrice outdoors—so they certainly deserved the crown this year. On the strength of Maryann Gong and pole vaulter Cimran Virdi, the Engineers from MIT claimed the fourth and final podium position.
Men’s Team Title
An incredible 1-2 finish in the heptathlon by Brandon Zarnoth and Greg Peterson set the stage for a UW Eau Claire title. The Blugolds also got some help from the longest and shortest events of the day, courtesy of Thurgood Dennis in the 60 and Josh Thorson in the 3k. UW La Crosse did all they could to keep it close, with sophomore Ross Denman taking home a surprising victory in the 400, but the Eagles needed a miracle on the 4x400 that they did not quite get. Mt. Union wound up a comfortable third, while St. Olaf had a magical day in the distance events to steal the final podium position from fellow distance powerhouse North Central, despite the Cardinals picking up 10 points in the pole vault. St. Olaf got a win in the mile from Paul Escher as well as a 1-2 finish in the 3k from Jake Campbell and Grant Wintheiser, allowing the Oles to edge out the Cardinals by a scant two points.