Men's track finishes second in quad meet with three Pennsylvania schools

The pattern of improvement that has characterized the men's track team thus far continued Saturday as Princeton played host to a strong trio of Pennsylvania schools. Big-12 powerhouse Penn State narrowly defeated Princeton 190-184. Ivy rival Penn was third with 170 points, while distance heavy Villanova scored a paltry 106 for last in the quad meet.

Defeating Penn, a heptagonal championship favorite, served to raise the injury-riddled team's spirits.

"Hopefully we can ride that wave into Heps" said senior team captain Ryan Smith.

Smith professed a two-pronged purpose of the competitive effort on his part.

"My biggest goal yesterday was to qualify for nationals in the 800m," he said.

Smith accomplished this goal conditionally as he entered the national list as a provisional qualifier with his 1:48.22 — a time less than a second shy of Omar Simmons '92 school record of 1:47.22. The automatic NCAA qualifying standard is 1:47.50.

Smith also revealed that the race was used by Princeton's strong middle distance squad as a tune-up effort in preparation for the prestigious Penn Relays, which are less than two weeks away.

"I know there are a lot of expectations on us," Smith continued. "But we feel we can go in there and win the Championship of America 4x800m."

Senior Tora Harris, the team's other co-captain, also provisionally qualified for the NCAA meet with a winning high jump of seven feet one and a half inches. Harris jumped a personal best and school record of 7'5" to win the NCAA indoor championship one month ago.

Indoor heptagonal mile champion, sophomore Jonathon Kieliszak, ran 3:53.49 for second in the 1500m race, followed by senior Kevin Gallagher in third at 3:54.91. The relatively slow times belie the nature of the race. A slow second quarter played into the hands of the kickers. Nonetheless, racing off different paces and competition with differing racing styles should pay dividends come the championship segment of the season.

"I thought we responded well to the competition of Penn State and Villanova," Kieliszac said.

Sophomore Tristan Colangelo and junior Mike Baird took first and second in the steeplechase, running 9:11.23 and 9:15.37, respectively.

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The throwers again proved stalwart for Princeton. Sophomore All-American Josh McCaughey captured the hammer throw with a distance of 60.82m, one meter shy of the new school record he established last weekend. Fellow sophomore Rocky Craley put the shot 16.49m for the win.

Highlighting Princeton's vertical jumps was Duane Banton. The freshman placed third against strong competition in the long jump with a leap of 7.41m.

Despite a strong headwind, junior Javius Wynn captured the 110m hurdles in a credible yet personally disappointing time of 14.96.

The Tigers switch tri-state alliances this Saturday when they face a trio of New York schools—Iona, St. John's and Manhattan. Invited team members are looking beyond the second quad meet and towards the Penn Relays, which begin Thursday April 25.

All team members, however, are looking beyond the invitational season towards the Heptagonal Championships hosted by Navy on May 11th and 12th. The coming weeks will prove crucial as the Tigers hone their speed and racing skills and as numerous key contributors return from injury.

"At full strength, we are definitely one of the top teams in the country," Wynn said. "Although we are suffering a lot of injuries, the key will be how we overcome this and use the talent we have to successfully compete. Our primary goal is to win the Heptagonal Championships; anything less will be extremely disappointing."