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Track & Field: Princeton vaults into new indoor season with style

Typically, in track and field, the first meet of the season is an opportunity to acclimate to competition and work the kinks out. Such rust-busters come before the bulk of event-specific training and preparation. In general, season openers are viewed more as a way to gauge basic fitness than as an occasion to break records.

However, this did not apply to senior co-captain and pole vaulter Dave Slovenski.

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This past weekend in Jadwin Gymnasium at the New Year’s Invitational, Slovenski burst into the indoor track season with a new Ivy League record jump of 5.37 meters, or 17 feet, 7.25 inches. When Slovenski stepped on the runway for his first competitive vault of the school year, he immediately let loose a towering vault that set the tone for the rest of the day.

“In the first attempt of the first meet of the season I was very focused,” Slovenski said. “The first jump I took got me real psyched because it was so good, and that got me rolling for the other heights.”

Slovenski’s record-setting performance surprised everyone — even his coaches.

“I knew he was ready to jump well, but I didn’t see him jumping quite that well,” men’s head coach Fred Samara said. “That was the first time that he’s actually jumped off the long run. It was quite unbelievable that he adapted that quickly.”

While Slovenski was the star of the meet, Saturday’s competition served as a good kick-start to the rest of the track and field team as well. The Tigers competed aggressively, producing eight individual winners out of the 22 events in which they participated. The invitational included mostly in-state rivals such as Rutgers, Rider and The College of New Jersey.

Leading the team on the track, sophomore sprinter Tom Hopkins won both the 300-meter and the long jump and qualified for the 60-meter hurdles final. The only one in the 300-meter field to break 35 seconds, Hopkins clocked in at 34.53 seconds.

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“The 300 is the perfect race for me,” Hopkins said. “I’m not really great at front-running races, so that led to a slightly slower time, but I’m OK with it.”

In addition to Hopkins’ win in the 300, the men ran well over the other distances. Junior Richard Sheldon and freshman Robert Mohr placed second and third in the 60-meter hurdles with times of 8.28 and 8.30 seconds, respectively.

However, as to be expected, Princeton’s season opener did not go without a few hitches. In the men’s 60-meter dash, freshman Tumi Akinlawon false-started, while classmate Tommaso Greenbaum ran to a disappointing fifth-place finish, clocking 7.07 seconds.

“I got the jitters out of the way with this first meet, but I was disappointed with my technical performance,” Greenbaum said. “Getting out of the blocks made me lose a ton of time.”

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While the Tigers have plenty to work on in the sprints, the jumpers and throwers were on point Saturday. In the long jump, Hopkins came back to jump 23 feet, 11.75 inches, while sophomore Shane Molidor followed closely behind in third with a personal record of 23 feet, 7.5 inches.

“What I need to do to jump well is to actually do less,” Hopkins said. “I run the scene with Paul Rudd from ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’ saying ‘do less, do less’ through my head whenever I’m on the runway.”

Opening strongly for this time of year, senior shot putter Patrick Park threw 55 feet, 10.25 inches to take first place overall. His throw was close to his outdoor best. Also performing well, freshman Nana Owusu-Nyanteki placed fourth in the triple jump. Owusu-Nyantekyi leapt 48 feet, 5.25 inches without even taking a complete run in.

“Nana actually jumped off his short run, so that’s tremendous,” Samara said. “It’s very optimistic for the future — he’s going to jump far.”

Emulating the men, the women also set strong benchmarks for the rest of the season.

Dominating the beginning of the invitational, Princeton claimed the first two events of the day as senior co-captain Eileen Moran won the 60-meter dash in 7.65 seconds, while freshman Tejumade Adewole took the 60-meter hurdles with a 8.78 second effort.

Moran continued to run the 300 later in the day but faded as she took third in 40.85 seconds. Junior Joie Hand came one spot behind in 41.06.

“Personally, I was content with the shorter races,” Moran said. “But after the way my 300 ended, I want to focus more on my strength in the longer sprints during the next few weeks.”

Performing well in the middle distances, sophomore Kristin Smoot took second in the 600 with freshman Cecilia Barowski in third, while the 4x400-meter relay team took second with a time of 3 minutes, 56.80 seconds. Continuing to showcase Princeton’s vaulting talent, junior Tory Worthen, a four-time Ivy League pole-vaulting champion and school indoor record holder, took first among collegians after clearing 12 feet, 5.50 inches. Freshman Nonny Okwelogu won the shot put, throwing 41 feet, 10.75 inches.

While the meet proved to be a decent starting point for the 2011-12 season, all of the Princeton athletes acknowledged that they have to keep on working hard in order to improve and bring it on when the competition begins to heat up in February.

“As the meets start, results can often be disheartening, but eventually things will fall into place if we keep up our hard work,” Moran said.

“It’s a lot better to screw up in the first meet and to identify the issues rather than have them emerge at Heps,” Greenbaum added.

As the Tigers head into winter break, it is important that they sustain their training, stay healthy and avoid accidental injuries for the long season ahead.

“The secret to success in any sport, but particularly in track, is to keep the kids healthy for all three seasons,” Samara said. “That’s why winning the triple crown is such a special thing.”

When the men and women return from break, the men will travel to Annapolis, Md., to compete in a dual meet with Navy on Jan. 7, while the women will resume their season with the Princeton Quad Meet at home on Jan. 14.