1980-1989

Coach John Cantalupi of the Women's Track and Field team wrote a letter to then president of Dickinson College, Dr. Samuel A. Banks, pleading for the resurfacing or conversion of the Bibble Field Track. The coach expressed worry that the state of the track and its measurement in yards instead of meters  would hinder athletes from meeting national qualifying standards. He cited national qualifier Linda Reinman's achievement, saying that he would "hate to see Linda's chances of qualifying for next year's national championships hindered by our current setup."

In a letter to Coach Harbold, Cyndi Lyn Olcott explains that she cannot attend the scheduled meeting and that she is prohibited from participating in Women's Track and Field until the second week of January. "If my injuries don't prevail," she writes, "I'll be out on the track more psyched than ever."

Cara Lima wrote to Coach Jere Harbold expressing interest in Women's Track and Field. She ran track during junior high school but was unable to participate during high school due to the lack of a team. She writes that she is "willing to begin working hard now."

The 1988 Outdoor Track and Field yearbook includes both the men's and women's team. The co-captains for the women's team were Cyndi Lyn Olcott and Susan Baldwin. Susan Baldwin won the MVP award for the year and qualified for the NCAA Division III national championships in javelin. Baldwin also played women's basketball at Dickinson and won the Middle Atlantic Conference Championships in javelin.

After the Women's Track and Field Club's first petition in 1981, David L. Watkins, the chairman of the Department of Physical Education, wrote to Comptroller Robert W. Belyea in 1982 urging the club's elevation to intercollegiate team status. He writes that women students have participated in the Track and Field Club for five years and have conducted "a quality program." He argues that creating this women's team would allow the college to offer nine intercollegiate sports for women in comparison to the ten for men.

At the conclusion of its letter petitioning for intercollegiate team status, the Women's Track and Field Club proposed three budget options. The first outlined a minimal budget without food, awards, or travel expenses; the second a moderate program after the model of the men's team; and the third a "high quality program separate from but equal to the men's program." The club cited the existing economic environment as the impetus behind its recommendation of the second program.

According to a petition by the Women's Track and Field Club for elevation to intercollegiate team status, the club was formed during the 1980 season. The petition juxtaposes the lack of the club's intercollegiate team status to the speed with which the Women's Cross Country Club went intercollegiate: formed in 1979, it competed in the intercollegiate capacity during the 1980 and 1981 season. As a club, Women's Track and Field had access to equipment and coaching "only through the good graces of the men's team," which was already in existence.

This article, written by Marcy Feldman, describes the resources that will soon be available at the opening of the Women's Center on March 1, 1984. "The Women's Center, intended to provide a meeting place for women's groups on campus...will offer lectures and exhibits focusing on feminist issues. The Women's Center is also intended to raise women's consciousness of pertinent issues on and off campus."

To celebrate the one hundredth year anniversary of women at Dickinson College, the Womens Center planned a series of events to create a welcoming environment in order to promote social interaction between students and faculty outside the classroom setting.Located at 222 Church St., under the coordination of Tina Groover,Office of Admissions, Nina Shover,Office of Student Services, Rena Convissor, Student Planning Board, and under the guidance of the Board of Directors, Professors Ellen Rosenman and Sharon O'Brien,the Womens Center strives to flourish across the Dickinson community so as to

Coach John Cantalupi had high expectations for the 1987 women's outdoor track season and their performance in the MAC championships, according to an article in the Dickinsonian. He is quoted as saying that  the team had "been third the past two seasons, and I think that this could be the year that we come through with a top finish." His expectations for the women's team were more optimistic than those professed by the men's coach, Jere Harbold.