As wisely noted by Brian Gillis PO ’10, the SCIAC Track and Field Dual Meet held at Caltech this past Saturday was “a day of ups and downs” for the Pomona-Pitzer men’s and women’s Teams. Both teams beat Caltech but fell to Redlands in their first dual meet of the season. The women’s team defeated Caltech 112 to 46 but lost to Redlands 106 to 56. The men’s team beat Caltech 95 to 61 but were outscored by Redlands 114 to 46. The four-way meet was also attended by Occidental College, but the Sagehens did not score against Occidental on Saturday.

Gillis’s own performances perhaps best represent Saturday’s mixed results. The senior started out the day with an impressive performance in the steeplechase. He broke away from the field early in the race and won with a time of 9:16, both a personal best and well under the national provisional qualifying time of 9:25. The men’s team also had first-place finishes from Michael Grier PO ’11 in the high jump, John Lewis PO ’12 in the 100 meter, and John Mering PO ’10 in the 1500 meter.

Merely hours after his steeple performance, however, Gillis stepped up to fill an empty slot in the men’s 4x4 relay team. Shortly after receiving the baton from teammate Wynton Marsalis PI ’10, Gillis stepped off the track, resulting in the team’s disqualification. “I could feel that something was wrong,” Marsalis said, remembering the fateful handoff.

Perhaps bafflement is the best word to describe the scene that followed. Devoted girlfriend and winner of Saturday’s women’s 1500-meter and 5K races, Alicia Freese PO ’10, came running across the infield of the track wailing, “He dislocated his shoulder! He dislocated his shoulder!” Devoted teammate John Mering, who was supposed to anchor the relay team, ran across the infield yelling, “What happened?! Are we disqualified?! What happened?!”

Gillis reports, “I knew right away what had happened. I stepped off the track and started yelling that my shoulder was dislocated. People were just really confused.”

The steeple star hopes to return to his training after a couple of days of recovery.

A standout performance on the women’s team came from thrower Ellie Chestnut PO ’10 in the hammer throw. Chestnut won the event with a personal best of 151-10. Although the senior has felt ready to throw over 150 for some time, it wasn’t until this Saturday that everything fell into place.

Chestnut attributes her recent success to both technique and confidence: “I started my winds faster than I usually do on Saturday, and I consciously thought about bending my legs—so I was able to generate more speed in my throw. I also happen to like the Caltech ring a lot; I felt more comfortable during my throws. That sounds a little strange, but it’s true—throwing well is essentially a mental struggle with myself.”

The women’s team was also pleasantly surprised by performances from Annie Lydens PO ’13 and Naomi Wagner PO ’13. Both are coming to track after returning from foot injuries that occurred during the fall cross-country season. Although Lydens was able to compete early in the cross-country season, Wagner did not see her first collegiate competition until this spring. Lydens finished third in the 800-meter race with a time of 2:23 while Wagner finished seventh in the 1500 in 5:08. Wagner’s third place finish in the women’s 5,000 meter was also part of a Sagehen sweep of the race.

Lydens commented on the excitement of finally being able to race. “Being able to run again makes all of the cross training worth it,” she said. “The race on Saturday was my first time in spikes in a year and probably my fourth time doing anything on a track over the last three months, and it felt great to be contributing to the team. The hardest part about being injured is watching your event go on without you, and it’s so gratifying to be able to race.”

The Sagehens look forward to two more competitions this weekend before heading off to spring break. On Friday, distance runners will compete in the Occidental Distance Carnival. On Saturday, the entire squad will return to Oxy for a true dual meet. Of Saturday’s meet Coach Kirk Reynolds says, “We’re two of the founding schools in SCIAC—going back to 1915—so to renew a true dual meet against a rival school we respect highly will be a lot of fun. It’s just two teams going at it over the course of three hours.”