Combine eight days in southern Florida with 18 good friends, two trips to South Beach and a trip to the Everglades, and it sounds like the recipe for one terrific spring break.
Throw in two hard-nosed coaches, however, and note that South Beach was viewed while running in sweltering heat and the Everglades were observed while completing an early morning workout, and you have the sort of "vacation" that could only be enjoyed by the women's track and field team.
A week of intensive training wrought the desired outcome both in terms of the ending race results and improved individual fitness as the team begins the outdoor season.
"We accomplished what we came down here to accomplish," head coach Peter Farrell said.
Those accomplishments were most tangibly manifested last Saturday on the Florida International track, where the majority of the Tigers competed against a cross-section of schools including Miami, Clemson and Oklahoma.
Despite feeling the culminated rigors of the week, there were several solid early-season performances, while others used the meet as an opportunity to run off-distances or perfect technique in field events.
Heptagonal champion and school record holder Lauren Simmons, a provisional NCAA qualifier in the 800 meter indoor event, moved up in distance to run her first-ever 1500m.
Running an intelligent, patient race and using her strong middle-distance kick to overcome a deficit from 400m-out, Simmons placed second in a very respectable four minutes, 37.02 seconds.
Freshman Brooke Minor — who earned second-team all-Ivy honors during the indoor season in the high jump — improved her personal best with a leap of 1.73m (five feet, eight inches) to capture second place.
Princeton was well represented in the throws as sophomore Betsy Kennedy placed fourth in the discus (41.68m) and freshman Amy Krilla placed second in the javelin (36.24m) despite using a modified approach — taking three steps rather than six — as coach Ed Roskiewicz eased his talented recruit into the rigors of college throwing.
A frustrating malfunction of the timing system meant that sophomore Hasina Outtz did not receive an official time for her strong run over the 400m hurdles. She was hand-timed, however, at 61.00 seconds.
While understandably frustrated at the lack of a verifiable measure of her performance, Outtz's run indicates a high level of fitness and progress at this early season juncture.
Not only did the timing system malfunction, but freshman sprinter Leslie Warren's 200m race was also started at the incorrect spot, and the competitors raced an ambiguous distance, approximately 180m.
Further, as is often typical of track meets, the events lagged nearly an hour behind schedule, meaning that competitors stood around in the sweltering mid-day Miami sun, draining precious energy reserves before being called to battle.
Nonetheless, the meet was a useful early season training tool and a low-key culmination to a week of concentrated practice.
"I need a vacation from this vacation, or at least a full day without practice, just to sleep," sophomore distance runner Christina Roberto said.
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