SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Alexandra Morris broke the school record in the 400-meter dash and Sebastian Matt won the 5,000-meter run as the Middlebury College track and field teams opened their annual spring trip to California in the Point Loma Nazarene University Collegiate Invitational.
The Panther women finished sixth out of 18 teams with 145 points, while the men were seventh of 21 with 164 points. Middlebury returns to action Saturday at the California Collegiate Invitational hosted by U.C.-San Diego.
In the women’s competition, Morris lowered the school record in the 400 to 57.06 while taking second place, besting the record of 57.51 set by Juliet Ryan-Davis in 2013.
The Panther women took additional top-10 finishes. Lucy Lang finished third in the 800-meter run (2:12.49), while Paige Fernandez was third in the 400-meter hurdles (1:05.38), a race in which Jackie Kearney took sixth (1:07.95)
Abigail Nadler was fifth in the 1,500 (4:33.87), while Lauren Bougioukas was 10th (4:44.43). The 4×400-meter relay of Kearney, Halle Gustafson, Fernandez and Kate McCluskey took third in 4:01.62.
In field events, Carly Andersen took second in the javelin toss (136’1”), while Julia Lothrop placed ninth (108’4”). Maddie Pronovost was seventh in the long jump (17’2”) and Kristin Kimble took 10th in the high jump (4’11.75”).
On the men’s side, Matt won in the 5,000-meter run in 14:51.30, while Sam Klockenkemper took second (14:55.38), and Brendan Wood was ninth (15:13.91). Jonathan Perlman finished second in the 1,500 (3:58.64), while Connor Evans was eighth (4:02.34).
Other top-10 finishes were posted by Kevin Serrao in the 800 (fourth, 1:53.26), Jimmy Martinez in the 200 (sixth, 22.02) and Alex Nichols in the 400 (seventh, 48.85).
The 4×400-meter relay of Martinez, Nichols, Brandon Cushman and James Mulliken was fourth in 3:20.82.
In field events, John Natalone was fourth in the pole vault (14’9.5”), while Alfred Hurley was seventh in the javelin toss (170’10”).
Nathaniel Durfee was eighth in the long jump (19’4”), Brenden Edwards took ninth in the discus (131’9”), and Tyler Chaisson was 10th in the shot put (43’6”).