Eph Men's & Women's Track & Field travel to compete Saturday for NESCAC Championships

HADLEY, Mass. - The 2008 NESCAC Track & Field Championships take place this Saturday at the Walter H. Pritchard Track & Field Complex on the campus of Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y.

Williams College has won the last seven NESCAC Women’s Track & Field titles and 15 overall, the Eph men have won or tied for the last seven titles, tying with Tufts last spring.

After winning the 2006 Women’s title by 36.5 points, the smallest margin of victory in the championship this decade, Williams took the 2007 crown by 53.5 points over second place Middlebury. Senior Carrie Plitt (Wenham, Mass.) and sophomore Emily Heaslip (Ridgefield, Conn.) continued the Ephs’ dominance in the sprint events a year ago, as Plitt took the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes while Heaslip was a winner as a rookie in the 400-meter.

Williams has had great success over the years exercising the depth of its roster and frequently places competitors in the top eight (scoring places) throughout the meet.

"Each year we anticipate a great meet at NESCAC, firstly because it is a strong competitive conference and secondly because it has no indoor version (as our other championships) so this is the one time in our 6-month season that we face all our rivals together," noted Eph head coach Peter Farwell. "It is also a championship that most of our team qualifies for, and it takes the peak performances from each of our throwers, jumpers, hurlders, and runners to win this championship."

On the Men’s side, Williams’ tandem of senior Andrew Arons (West Hartford, Conn.) and junior Deividas Seferis (Klaipeda, Lithuania) were one-two in both the 100 and 200-meter events last year to help the Ephs continue their dominance in the sprints, as Arons has won the 100 and 200-meter dash at the previous two NESCAC meets. Joining Arons among the winners in the short-distance events was junior teammate Alex Hoerman (Rochester, N.Y.), coming away with the 400-meter title. In the middle-distance events,

The distance races will once again be wide open at this year’s championship. Amherst sophomore Daniel Murner (Crestwood, Ky.) is the highest returner in the 5000-meter after finishing second in the run last April. The Williams combination of sophomore Corey Watts (Madison, Wis.) and senior Morgan Seybert (Belle Mead, N.J.) placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 10000-meter and are the top returning runners from the event.

"This year we are seeded to finish behind Tufts in both the women's and the men's meets, but we have set our strategy to be in a position to win if most things go right on Saturday," stated Farwell. "Several of our top athletes will 'double', and even 'triple' in events, and we will likewise count on 'specialist' athletes to come through in their one scoring opportunity."

The Ephs have recently welcomed some two-sport athletes and some injured athletes back to competition and that will only augment the men's depth. "We're excited to have added some two-sport athletes on the men's side in key events (javelin, high jump, long jump, relay) and we are returning some who were injured during indoors (hurdlers especially)," Farwell said. "Additionally, we had many new qualifiers at last week's Little Three meet, putting themselves in contention for the crucial 6th-7th-8th places that could score the deciding points. Our men tied with Tufts last year at this meet, and both the men and women came in second to Tufts indoors at the Division III New England meet, so I know we'll be ready to fire on all cylinders."

The championship format, previously a two-day event, was changed to a one-day competition in 2003. The meet gets underway on Saturday with field events beginning at 9:00 a.m. and running events commencing at 9:30 a.m.