Buoyed by record-shattering individual performances, the Swarthmore College men’s and women’s track & field teams both posted impressive finishes at the 2017 Centennial Conference championships at Johns Hopkins University.

The Garnet men’s team finished in third place – its best team finished since 1997 – while the women finished in fourth place.

Highlighting the impressive weekend on the men’s side was Daniel Belkin ’19. On the second day of the championships, he earned a gold medal in the high jump, clearing the 1.85 meter mark without a foul. On the championship's final day, he claimed another gold in the triple jump with a jump marked at 13.50, and was part of the silver medal winning 4 x 400 relay squad, teaming with Zain Hannan 17, Saadiq Garba '19, and Benjamin Warren '19 to cross the line in 3:22.57. 

Also making headlines was Andrew Jansen ‘18, who surpassed a record that has stood for 112 years during the opening day of the championships. Jansen threw the hammer 43.99 meters (144 feet, 4 inches), breaking the Swarthmore record of 138 feet, 6 inches set by Tiny Maxwell, Class of 1907, in 1905. Maxwell was a member of the inaugural Garnet Athletics Hall of Fame class and is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. Jansen took silver in the event.

Not to be outdone, Maggie O'Neil ’17 also set a new women’s hammer throw record on the very same afternoon. She surpassed her own record – set in 2016 –with a throw of 42.62 meters (139 feet, 10 inches). Her record from last year stood at 116 feet, 4 inches. O’Neil, like Jansen, earned a silver medal in the hammer throw, while also adding silvers in the discus and shot put later in the weekend.

Additionally on the women’s side, Kayla Camacho’s ‘19 gold medal in the 200-meter dash headlined the Garnet's accomplishments. Camacho sprinted to the finish line in 25.21 for 10 points. Camacho also received bronze in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.32 and as a member of the 4 x100 relay team with Lulu Allen-Waller '17, Simran Khanna '19, and Sayaka Vaules '20 that ran in 50.58. Also earning a relay medal was the squad of Jen Beltran '18, Kate Hannah '17, Indy Reid-Shaw '17, and Lilly Price '20, which finished in second place with a time of 9:26.42 in the 4 x 800 relay. Allen-Waller earned silver in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.81m, while Price won bronze in the 1,500-meter with a time of 4:42.25, picking off three runners ahead of her in the final lap.

Other Garnet medalists include Chris Chan '17 (bronze, triple jump), Noah Roseberg '17 (bronze, javelin), and Claire Conley '20 (bronze, shot put).