Men's indoor track takes home second in William Gillis Open

After a long break, the men's indoor track season resumed last weekend, and the Tigers kicked off the new year with a great performance. The team finished first in six events last weekend at the William Gillis Open in West Point, N.Y.

The meet, the second of the indoor season, represented a strong start for Princeton, with winners in a variety of events. Since most of the more important meets take place later on in the season, the earlier meets of the year represent a chance to test one's preparation in competitive conditions.

"Basically this meet lets you see where you are in terms of being in shape and finding out what you need to work on for the rest of the season," said sophomore distance runner Jeff DiChiara.

"Some performances were excellent for this early in the season, while others weren't quite what people expected."

DiChiara, fellow sophomore Dan McKenzie, and junior Josh Ordway finished first through third in the men's 5000m, respectively.

"In my race, we finished one through three, so we pretty much dominated the race," said DiChiara. "But even still, I think everyone in that race thought they could have run faster."

Senior captain Ryan Smith finished first in the mile, and freshman Alexis Tingin took the 500m title in 1:05.8. Also, Tiger relay teams finished first and second in the 4x800.

Junior Cameron Atkinson captured first place in the 55m dash with a winning time of 6.1 seconds.

The Tigers placed well in the field events, too, with sophomore Josh McCaughey taking first in the weight throw with a distance of 18.82m. Junior Rocky Craley and freshman Paul Lyons performed well as well, placing first and second in the shotput with distances of 15.89m and 15.97m.

In addition to the first place finishes, Matt Herbert, Wes Stockard, Matt Tanner, Austin Smith, and Ari Benjamin took second through sixth place in the mile.

Though the meet itself was good practice, it was for the most point simply a jumping-off point for the Tigers' season.

"You're always competitive and it's always a race and it's always important," said DiChiara, "but in terms of it being an important team title it wasn't anything that we'd focus on.

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"All of the meets for the rest of the season are pretty important, though."

The next indoor meet is the Armory Invitational, Jan. 26th in New York City. Judging by the kind of shape the Tigers showed themselves to be in this weekend, their outlook should be optimistic.