WATERVILLE, Maine — The Middlebury College track and field teams fared well this past weekend at the NESCAC championship meet at Colby, with the Panther men winning five individual events and earning a program-best second place, and the women’s team earning a relay win and finishing third.
Tufts claimed the men’s crown with 178.90 points, just ahead of Middlebury’s 166.50 points, while the Williams women won the team title (179) ahead of Tufts (126) and Middlebury (109.50).
Taking home individual conference crowns on the men’s side were Jake Wood, Taylor Shortsleeve, Alex Nichols and Jason McCallum. Wood won the 400-meter hurdles (53.39), while Shortsleeve took in the high jump by clearing the bar at 6’2”.
Also earning an individual title was Nichols in the 400m run in 48.66, just ahead of teammate Peter Hetzler in 49.23. McCallum took home the league title in the pole vault, clearing the bar at a height of 15’1”.
In the men’s four-by-400-meter relay, the Panther quartet of Nichols, Bryan Holtzman, Fritz Parker and Hetzler won just .04 seconds with a time of 3:20.89. In other relays, the team of Kevin Chu, Holtzman, Parker and Adam Markun finished second in the 4×100 in 42.87.
Other top efforts were recorded by Holtzman, who finished second in the 200 (22.47) and fourth in the 100 (11.09), while Nichols was fourth in the 200 (22.64). In the 1,500, Wilder Schaaf took third (3:55.57), while Sam Cartwright was fourth (3:56.06). Chu was the runner-up in the 110m hurdles (15.09), while Shortsleeve took third (15.20).
In addition to Shortsleeve in the high jump, Deklan Robinson also cleared 6’2”, finishing third due to the total number of jumps throughout the competition. Diego Galan Donlo cleared the high jump bar at 6’0”, good for fourth, while Robinson was third in the javelin (173’11”).
In women’s action, the 4×800 relay team comprised of Addis Fouche-Channer, Katherine Tercek, Olivia Artaiz and Summer Spillane earned a first-place time of 9:30.22. 
Alison Maxwell was the runner-up in the 800m run (2:15.44) and 1,500 (4:37.12), while Tercek was fourth in the 1,500 (4:40.40). Kathleen Rominger was third in the 5,000 (17:37.59). Jackie Kearney was fourth in the 400 hurdles (1:06.41), while Spillane (11:03.15) and Abigail Pohl (11:18.86) were third and fourth in the 3,000 steeplechase, respectively.  
Laura Strom matched Amherst’s Kiana Herold with a height of 5’3.75” in the high jump, but finished second due to the total number of jumps. Hannah Blackburn was third in the long jump (17’6.75”) and triple jump (35’8.5”). Lauren Pincus took second in the javelin (135’11”), while Grace Wildermuth was fourth (125’5”).