This past weekend, the Colgate track and field teams traveled south to Annapolis to take part in the Patriot League Indoor Track and Field Cham­pionships held at Navy. The women’s squad competed well and earned 58 points en route to a solid fifth place finish. The men accumulated 20 points across the meet, and placed seventh overall. Despite the modest team placements, both squads ran performed well, and several indi­vidual runners and relay units earned All- Patriot League Honors.

The women’s squad impressed on Friday and Saturday and asserted their strength in the long distance and medley events. The team also saw some measurable success in the longer of the sprinting events. For the second week in a row, senior Michele Miller turned in a dominant per­formance in the 400-meter dash. Miller posted a final time of 57.87 in the event- good enough for third place overall.

The Raiders proceeded to nearly sweep the podium in the 500-meter dash, as first year Ja­mie King-Prunty and junior Alexandra Atkin­son placed second and third overall, respectively. King-Prunty turned in a time of 1:16.55, and capped off a strong regular season, earning sec­ond team All- Patriot League for her efforts. Atkinson clocked in just behind her teammate, finishing the event in a very respectable 1:17.04. In the distance events, junior star Elise DeRoo reasserted her dominance after a several-week absence from team competition.

The Colgate leader placed first overall posted a time of 2:53.85 in the 1000-meter run. The gutsy performance earned DeRoo first team All- Patriot League honors. In the 1 mile run, DeRoo turned in another dominant perfor­mance in placing third overall. She completed the race in a swift 4:48.44, and earned 6 points for the Raiders in the process.

In the 5000-meter run, senior captain Julie Tarallo placed fourth overall, posting a final time of 17:37.97. Finally, the team performed excep­tionally well in the distance medley, placing first overall and earning first team All-Patriot League honors. Colgate’s ‘A’ squad (junior Kelly Cat­tano, DeRoo, sophomore Amy Sleeper, senior Hilary Hooley) posted a final time of 11:58.26 in the relay. DeRoo also commented on the ef­fect of earning individual and team accolades in saying, “It’s always inspiring to see your team­mates be successful and I think having such a solid group of All-Patriot League athletes will inspire everyone on the team to strive to achieve such honors in seasons to come.”

The men’s squad didn’t experience quite the same level of success as the women, but there were several bright spots for the Raiders across the two-day meet. In the 200-meter dash, junior Grahm Tooker placed fifth overall with a time of 22.34. Tooker continued to contribute consis­tently in the 400-meter dash, where he posted a final time of 49.9 en route to another fifth place finish and another two points. In the middle-distance events, the Raiders experienced even greater success.

In the 800-meter run, seniors Jonathan Knowlton and Andrew Smith placed fourth and sixth, respectively. Knowlton snapped the tape in a quick 1:54.14, while his teammate and classmate flew across the finish line in 1:54.91. The event was a fitting regular season conclusion for the two runners, who were rock solid across the board in the middle-distance events this sea­son. The squad experienced an uncharacteristic lull in the long-distance events, failing to score any points in the longer races at the meet.

That said, the Raiders made up for their unforeseen drop by posting points in all three relay events. The most notable performance occurred in the 4×800 meter relay, where the team’s ‘A’ squad (senior Ed Boulat, junior Tim Metivier, Knowlton, and Smith) placed second overall. The foursome completed the event in just 7:34.78, and earned eight points for the men’s team- nearly half of their entire meet’s output. The dominant performance earned each of the runners second team All- Patriot League honors.

Both the women’s and the men’s teams will have a week off before some mem­bers travel to Boston for the IC4A and ECAC Championships.