Men's & Women's Track Heads to NCAAs
Williams sent thirteen competitors Thursday to the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships at Ohio Northern University. The majority of the athletes are competing on relay teams over the course of the two-day meet, but three are racing individual events in addition to taking part in the relay races.
The individuals racing are Macklin Chaffee ‘09 in the 1-Mile Run, and Sarah Wild ‘11 and Ariel Williams ’10 in the 800-Meter Run. The Ephs also qualified men’s and women’s distance medley relay (DMR) teams and a women’s 4x400 meter relay team.
Chaffee qualified for the mile championship with his season-best time of 4:12.56 – the eighth-fastest entry time. The mile preliminaries are the first running event on the track. At 5:00 p.m. on Friday night, the first heat will toe the line, and soon after, the second heat will take the track. Chaffee was randomly placed in the second heat, and faces stiff competition including sophomore Peter Kosgei of Hamilton College – the entrant with the fastest seed time, a speedy 4:09.31. The top eight finishers qualify from the preliminaries to the finals of the mile, and should Chaffee qualify from the preliminaries, he will race on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. Chaffee qualified for the mile last year, with mild success, and many on the team expect great things from him this weekend, including team captain Mack Brickley ’08.
“This year he [Chaffee] returns as a completely different runner, confident of his ability to compete on a national level,” Brickley said.
One factor that is going to make Chaffee’s races in the mile a bit more challenging is the fact that he is also the anchor leg in Williams’ DMR team, along with seniors Brickley and Andrew Arons, sophomore Edgar Kosgey, and alternate senior Chris Beeler. The DMR is a relay in which four different distances are raced for a cumulative time, with each runner handing the baton to his teammate after each leg is completed. The distances are 1200-, 400-, 800-, 1600-meters – run in that order. The DMR is the same day as the mile preliminaries, so if Chaffee qualifies for the finals of the 1-Mile Run, he will have to race three times in two days. Head Coach Pete Farwell expressed confidence in Chaffee’s ability to handle the grueling schedule.
“Macklin has been stellar and will contend near the front, though it is a challenge to run three one-mile races in less than 24-hours. He did it last year, and put together three stellar efforts,” Farwell said.
The DMR team enters the race with the top seed time of all the competitors: 9:56.57. The team is composed of three very capable runners in addition to Chaffee. Arons has continually run some of the fastest 200-meter dash times in the New England region this winter. Kosgey can always be counted on to run a fast 800-meter run time, and Brickley has had a breakthrough season. He recently ran a personal best of 3:03 in the 1200-meter leg of the DMR during their qualifying race at the Division I New England Championships. Brickley summed up the ability of the team before heading west for the championship meet.
“[Arons is] an old hand at nationals and is extremely cool under pressure,” Brickley said. “Edgar’s our new phenom, and we haven’t seen the best of him yet. I’m looking to go out in style and enjoy myself in the final race of my indoor career.”
The women’s DMR is almost as stacked as the men’s – they’ve qualified with the third fastest time of the meet. The relay consists of sophomores Brett Scofield and Olga Kondratjeva, and seniors Carrie Plitt and Laura Walls. Both Scofield and Walls came close to qualifying in the 800-meter and 1-mile runs, and Plitt – like Arons – is one of the top sprinters in the New England region. The women’s DMR is the final event on Friday night at 7:20 p.m.
Plitt, one of the team’s seasoned veterans, is doubling over to the 4x400 meter relay after racing the DMR on Friday. The 4x400 meter relay team consists of seniors Plitt and Veronica Ivey, as well as sophomore Emily Heaslip and freshman Sara Wild, and is the final event of the meet on Saturday at 5:15 p.m.
Wild will race with sophomore Ariel Williams in the open 800-meter run preliminaries at 6:55 p.m. on Friday night. Wild is seeded fourth in her heat with a time of 2:14.88, and Williams is seeded second-to-last in her heat with a 2:15.09. If either qualifies for the finals, she will race on Saturday at 4:05 p.m. Like Chaffee, if Wild qualifies for the finals in the 800, she will have to double back quickly – within a little over an hour – to race a leg in the 4x400 meter relay. Coach Farwell thinks the races will be a good chance to gain experience for the two in their first races at the national championships.
“Sara Wild and Ariel Williams have excellent prospects to
make the final in the 800. The race will test both their fitness
and their tactical savvy," said Farwell.
Additionally, he expressed confidence in the preparedness of the entire squad as they readied to race the best that Division III track has to offer.
“Everyone is super-fit and at their indoor peak,” Farwell said. “We have four strong legs on each of our three relays - these have been a principal strength of the team this winter, so it is fitting that each relay is 'in the running' for All-American, and possible high finishes. The competition is fast and deep, though, so as always it will be exciting.”
