Men’s track and field claims championship, women place fourth at Heps

This past weekend, the wait for the highly-anticipated Ivy Indoor Heptagonal Championships finally came to an end. After two days of competition, the men’s team concluded the winter season with an upset, the 19th victory in program history, while the women showcased an array of stellar individual performances in their fourth-place finish.

Taking place just as temperatures begin to rise and clouds clear, the annual indoor Ivy Heptagonal is the most significant track and field meet of the winter season. The most impressive members of the men’s and women’s teams train assiduously weeks and days before the competition to prove themselves against fellow Ivy League foes.

Heading into the weekend, the teams had their sights set on Cornell, which had proved to be one of the most talented teams in the Ivy League. In fact, despite Princeton’s first-place finish at Harvard-Yale-Princeton this year, many analysts had predicted a double-digit Cornell victory. Fortunately, the Tigers had other plans.

When asked to describe the challenge and pressure of this year’s Heptagonals, sophomore middle-distance runner Noah Kauppila said, "We were unsure because you never know what the other team is doing. It was pretty crazy. There are a lot of fans so it’s really intimidating sometimes." In response to the pressure, Kauppila explained, "I’ve raced a lot and practiced preparing for those emotions. It’s basically just about experience, which helps a lot."

To be sure, the men’s victory did not come easily. In fact, the Tigers finished the first day of competition in third place behind Cornell and Dartmouth. On the second day, the Orange and Black comeback began with a second-place mile finish from sophomore distance runner Garrett O’Toole. Princeton further reduced the deficit when the duo of junior Chris Cook and sophomore Mitchell Charles won first and second place in the shot put.

After taking the lead, freshman Charles Volker and sophomore Carrington Akosa surprised with double wins over five Cornell sprinters. Then to enlarge the Princeton lead, sophomore Noah Kauppila and senior Luke Brahm claimed the 1,000m. Describing the crucial victory, Kauppila said, "It was crazy and we took the lead from the start. It went really well for us. We took command and it was at a tight point in the meet."

With a modest lead, junior Xavier Bledsoe surprised many with a personal record and victory in the high jump. Bledsoe was the first to eclipse 2.13 meters and his victory prevented Cornell’s attempt at a comeback. At the end of the day, Princeton walked away with a 23-point lead over Cornell, disproving prior predictions.

On the women’s side, several Tigers posted records over the weekend. Highlighting the women’s performance was senior Cecilia Barowski, who has proved to be one of the team’s most talented. Additionally, junior Allison Harris claimed the Most Outstanding Field Performer of the Meet award with a first-place finish in the pole vault. The Tigers also scored points in the distance medley, 4x800m and 4x400m relays. At the end of Saturday, the Tigers finished fourth behind Harvard, Cornell and Dartmouth.

For the Tigers, the weekend victories were especially sweet given the team’s resilience. Again, Kauppila spoke for the team when he said, "For the team, we have a lot of guys who tried hard the entire season. They were trying to get back, especially the injured ones. When you cap it [the season] off with a Heps victory it’s like icing on the cake."

Following a weekend of exhausting competition, both track and field teams will receive a short reprieve before a spring break training trip to Orlando, which kicks off the outdoor season.