In his first year on the Colby track team, despite facing some of the best teams and runners in the region, Dan Langwenya ’14 has kept his opponents on their toes. After steadily improving during the indoor track season, the first-year from Swaziland continued the trend on Saturday at the Bates quad meet in Lewiston, Maine. Langwenya won the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.25, beating out Ben Levy of Bates (11.26) to top his previous time of 11.40 from the meet over spring break in San Diego. “The sky is the limit for this young athlete,” said co-captain David Lowe ‘11.

Lowe didn’t do so poorly either, as he broke his own College record in the decathlon, finishing in second place behind Brett Epier of Bates. Lowe beat his own record by nearly 100 points (he had 5,981) and is nearing the minimum threshold to qualify for nationals (6,050), depending on how many competitors the NCAA takes.

In the steeplechase, fellow senior co-captain Andy Maguire finished second, setting a personal record that, notably, surpasses that of his brother Tim Maguire ’08. “Andy is the 11th-fastest Colby runner in the 3000-meter steeplechase ever,” said Lowe.  “His 9:43.72 clocking is a testament to all his hard work that he has put in the past four years and it is exciting to see it paying off.”
In the pole vault, Trent Wiseman ’13 matched his own College record (15 feet, seven inches) en route to a victory, while Justin Owumi ’14 took third in the triple jump (40-9.75). “Having Trent and Dan win,” added Maguire, “is very impressive when you consider the strength of the teams there.”

The meet featured the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, ranked first in the New England region) and host Bates (ranked fifth). “It was great and humbling to measure ourselves against Bates and MIT,” said head coach Jared Beers. Colby also had four runners qualify for the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championships in the 1500-meter run, while Randy Person and Brent Daly each ran sub-52-second 400-meter runs.

“As a team we improved a lot on Saturday,” said Maguire. “We had the opportunity to see three of our rivals and a great preview of what to expect at the state meet in two weeks. The weather was also a great boost to everyone's morale.”

“We had a great mix of first-years hitting their stride, and upperclassmen making breakthroughs,” said Beers. “It was very fun to watch.”

For the women, co-captain Emma Linhard ’11 won the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 11:17.60 before combining with Laura Duff ’13, Brittany Tschaen ’11 and Brittney Bell ’13 to win the 1600-meter relay in a time of 4:08.36. Kelly Foster ’12 placed first in the discus throw (120-01) while co-captain Danielle Sheppard ’11 won the high jump (5-1). Top-ranked MIT won the meet, followed by Bates (fourth in New England).

This weekend, Colby hosts its only home meet of the season (which is also a Code Blue event) beginning at 11:00 a.m. on the Harold Alfond field against Bates, the University of Maine and the University of Southern Maine. Maguire said, “We look forward to carrying the momentum from this past Saturday into our home meet. Look out for some stellar performances at the Colby Invite—it should be a great track meet to watch.”