Medford, MA––The Williams men's track and field team competed today at the Division III New England Championship, hosted by Tufts University. In a meet of the highest caliber athletes and teams in the area, Williams performed admirably, finishing 2nd with 92 points. Tufts won the meet with 127 points, while MIT was 3rd with 84 points.
The meet actually began on Friday, when two Ephs, co-captain Tobias Muellers '18 and Tom Riley '18, began to compete in the heptathlon, a two-day affair. The two performed fantastically. Muellers broke his own school record, scoring 4895 points and easily pulling away from the rest of the field. Riley battled closely with an athlete from Tufts and an athlete from WPI before sealing a 1-2 finish for Williams by an exceptionally strong 1000 meter run to finish his heptathlon.
Muellers, not satisfied with just 7 events, competed in the long jump even as he competed in the heptathlon, joining Connor Harris '18, Christian Holway '19, and Amyhr Barber '20. There, every Eph far outperformed their seeds. Harris jumped 6.96 meters, a new personal best, for 3rd place. Just behind him in the standings was Holway, who notched his own personal best of 6.94 meters to get 4th place. And Muellers, not yet exhausted, jumped 6.66 meters for 7th place. Barber jumped 6.29 meters and nearly made the finals. These results gave Williams the early lead heading into the meat of the day.
But while the Ephs continued to perform well throughout the day, other schools, notably Tufts, began to strike back. Jeremy Thaller '19 matched his personal best 60-meter dash of 7.02 in a preliminary heat, and came back with a time of 7.03, a consistent performance that was good enough for 5th overall. In the 1000 meter run, a duo of first-years, Nick Gannon '20 and Kevin LaFleche '20, competed admirably. Gannon made a strong mid-race push to get into scoring position, while LaFleche waited until the final 300 meters to pounce. LaFleche finished with a new personal best of 2:31.21 for 7th overall, while Gannon finished 9th in 2:32.90. In the mile, a race that featured numerous surges and lulls, co-captain David Folsom '17 ran measuredly, finishing 8th overall in 4:20.78. And in the pole vault, Pierceson Brown '18 had a seasonal best of 4.55 meters, finishing 4th overall.
Despite these performances, Williams dropped significantly in the standings, and was in 5th heading into the 3000, 5000, shot put, and relays. It was in these events that Barron had expected Williams to be strongest, and he was not disappointed. Leading the change of momentum was first-year Sam Wischnewsky '20, who ran a 6 second personal best of 8:46.22 in the 3000, finishing 4th in his heat. In the fast heat, co-captain Peter Hale '17 continued his streak of front-running victories, pulling away from a national caliber field after the first mile to finish in 8:17.37, the second fastest time in the nation this year. Hale has not yet lost a race this season.
In the 5000, Noah Williams '17 and Austin Anderson '19 worked well together, leading the chase pack after two runners had separated from the rest. Their team tactics worked successfully, with the two finishing 3rd and 4th respectively, in times of 14:59.01 and 15:03.34. Behind them, Mitchell Morris '19 ran an intelligent race, running the first mile of the race in last place, moving into position to strike over the next mile, and kicking hard over the last mile, finishing in 15:10.45 for 7th overall.
In the shot put, first-year Magnus Herweyer '20 continued the momentum, throwing a mark of 15.52 meters for 2nd place.
By the time the relays were contested, Williams was back in a tight battle for 2nd place with MIT. Despite having to compete from the slow heat in the Distance Medley Relay and 4x800, a considerable disadvantage, the Ephs competed with aplomb. Chasing only the potential marks of a later heat, the DMR team of Jacob Kahrs '19, Justin LeAndre '18, Luke Hinz '17, and Peter Kirgis '20 managed to beat every time from both heats, winning in a time of 10:21.66. In the 4x800, the Ephs weren't quite so successful, but a team consisting of LaFleche, Alex Cowen '18, Robert Delfield '20, and Folsom ran a time of 7:59.36, finishing in 4th overall, and sealing 2nd place over MIT.
Barron was reasonably pleased with his team's performance, saying "Going in Tufts and MIT were definite favorites. Middlebury and we were a little back but hopeful. We definitely needed Tufts and MIT to come back to us or to get some real help from other teams. Tufts did a great job defending their track today. I really tip my hat to them." Barron emphasized that today's achievement was a team effort beyond their three individual wins, saying that "the long jumpers had big jumps to get us started. We lost a little of that momentum through the middle but the team rallied hard and closed well."
Looking ahead to the outdoor season and the attempted defense of Williams' NESCAC title, Barron was optimistic, but realistic. "Tufts will be incredibly formidable this spring. But I don't think we were at our best today. We definitely have more. We just need to go back to work and find our consistency. It's there."
The Ephs will continue their season at the NEICAAA Championship on February 25th. The meet will be contested at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.
