In a sport where individual success does not always correlate with team hegemony, a competitive event is often concluded with mixed feelings and a range of emotions across the diverse spectrum that is the track and field team. The past two weekends have proved to be no exception.
The men's track and field team participated in meets flanking the Intersession. On Jan. 26, Princeton competed in the Armory Invitational, a quad meet at which the Tigers grabbed seven first-place finishes. But Princeton had a disappointing finish to its Intersession competition when it fell to Connecticut and Penn State in a tri-meet Feb. 2.
Turbo admit
Senior Tora Harris had the most impressive performance at the Armory Invitational. Jumping an astounding 2.25 meters, Harris not only qualified automatically for the NCAA indoor championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas, but also attained the nation-leading mark in the high jump and broke his own school record.
Princeton runners also recorded some impressive early season times. Senior captain Ryan Smith clocked 1:03.83 for first place in the 500m. Senior Kevin Gallagher ran and won the mile with a time of 4 minutes, 15.23 seconds. Junior Cameron Atkinson, also a running back for the football team, captured the highly contested 55m dash with a time of 6.46 seconds, slightly off his clocking of 6.42 in the preliminaries.
Sophomore Josh McCaughey, an NCAA provisional qualifier and currently ranked No. 18 in the nation, fell to Jacob Freeman of Manhattan College, ranked No. 2 in the nation, with a throw of 19.21m in the 35-pound weight throw event.
After a week of living like professional athletes — no classes, hard training, plenty of recovery and a few misguided attempts at boxing as cross-training — the track and field team returned to the Mondo surface with a vengeance on Feb. 2 in a tri-meet hosted by Penn State.
Despite falling to the host Nittany Lions and the Connecticut Huskies, Princeton had several notable performances on the track. Further, whereas Princeton is a dominant force within the Ivy League, Penn State is currently ranked No. 2 nationally and has a depth that Princeton cannot match.
Connecting flight
The highlight of the meet would undoubtedly be the 800m event, in which senior Ryan Smith and junior David Dean both provisionally qualified for the NCAA championships with clockings of 1:49.59 and 1:59.69, respectively, for second and third place behind Elliot Blount of UConn.
As of Feb. 2, Smith and Dean are ranked No. 8 and No. 10 nationally. However, to guarantee themselves a plane ticket to Fayetteville along with Tora Harris, they will need to dip below the automatic standard of 1:48.30.
McCaughey improved his weight throw performance with a toss of 19.56m for first place, while fellow sophomore Rocky Craley put the shot 16.46m for another Princeton victory in the throws.
Showing off
Atkinson continued to display his athletic prowess by winning the 60m with a time of 6.91 and finishing second to Ryan Olkowski of Penn State in the 200m with a time of 21.63.
Harris, who was recently named the winner of the Abel Kiviat Award as the top national/international track and field athlete from New Jersey, dominated the high jump with a mark of 2.21m (seven feet, three inches), close to a foot higher than his nearest competitor.
Looking toward the Heptagonal Championships, sophomore miler Pete Cioni expressed optimism at the team's chance to defend the League title.
"I'm confident," he said. "The team is really starting to come together at this vital point in the season."
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