W. track receives strong efforts from sprinters and throwers in Heps tune-up

One more week to go.

With a scant seven days left to prepare, Princeton hosted one last meet in anticipation of the upcoming Heptagonal League Championships.

The women's track team competed at Princeton's Larry Ellis Invitational last weekend at Weaver Track and Field Stadium, capping the season with one last meet before next week's Heps. Though the meet was of smaller scale than last week's Penn Relays, it provided the Tigers with an important chance to train and focus on the season-ending finale.

Though several Tigers entered into next week's meet did not take part in the Invitational, many of those who did performed exceptionally well.

Sophomore Susan Coltman finished first in the women's long jump, registering a distance of 18 feet, nine and one quarter inches, while the throwers also had a strong showing. Freshman Shannon Smith captured the women's shot title with a distance of 10.31 meters and classmate Amy Krilla finished second in the javelin competition with a distance of 140 feet.

"It was a good way to get practice in for Heps for those who are going," Smith said. "There's a lot of competition, though it was kind of weighted towards running."

Other Princeton athletes who performed well included sophomore Hasina Outtz and freshman Jen Byrd, who ran in the 200m dash and 100m hurdles, respectively.

"I think we all did well," Byrd said. "It was a good pre-Heps meet. "No one went out to get a (personal record), but we all went out and tried to run well."

Sophomore Betsy Kennedy took third in the hammer competition with a mark of 150 feet., and senior captain Lauren Simmons finished second in the 400m with a time of 55.84 seconds.

Simmons and fellow captain and senior Catherine Casey head the list of those expected to lead the Tigers to Heps success next weekend.

Though Princeton has not always fared well in the annual season-ending championship meet, the Tigers' third place finish in indoor Heps bodes well for this season's end.

"[The Larry Ellis Invitational] was a really good, easy meet," said Smith. "And I think if we really pull it all together we can do really well next week at Heps."

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The Tigers, armed with a bumper crop of talented freshmen including Smith, Warren, Brooke Minor, Chanel Lattimer and others, hope to conclusively erase the stigma of underachievement that multiple seasons have accrued. Princeton finished a disappointing seventh at last year's indoor Heps, and only slightly bettered its position in the spring.

Still, though, the future looks bright.

With Simmons and Casey anchoring the running events, and a host of possible scorers in the field events, the Tigers feel confident that they can be competitive with women's track front-runners Harvard and Cornell.

"I think we're going to surprise some people [at Heps]," Byrd said. "We've had a lot of really good individual performances. I think we're going to turn some heads."