M. track begins indoor Heps title defense at New Year's Invite

With barely enough time for the cross-country distance-runners to clean the grass and mud out of their spikes, the indoor track and field season is upon us.

Despite being the defending indoor Heptagonal champions, the Princeton men's team narrowly lost the outdoor title to Penn. But the Heptagonal Championships are three months away, and the team's immediate focus is on the New Year's Invitational hosted by Princeton this Saturday. Traditionally a low-key chance to gauge how fall training went and to kick start the season, the talent level of the team suggests there may be some strong performances.

"All of the throwers are looking to make some marks this weekend that will let the rest of the league know that we plan to continue dominating the throwing events at Heps this year as we have in the past," junior All-American Josh McCaughey said.

McCaughey heads a strong throwing corps. Junior Mark Smith and freshman Kenneth Stringer also look to score points in the weight throw. Sophomore Paul Lyons, the defending indoor and outdoor Heptagonal champion in the shot put, is currently rehabilitating a football injury but looks to round into form come the championship phase of the season. Junior Rocky Craley, senior captain Jeff Petrulis and sophomore Drew Geant have potential to score in the shot put. Given spatial constraints, the discus and javelin are not contested indoors.

Sophomore Dwayne Banton will challenge for an individual Heptagonal title in the long jump.

"For the jumps, we are hoping to have a strong season since we are now more of a veteran group," triple jumper Marcus Ford-Bey said.

It will take their accrued wisdom and strength to replace NCAA high jump champion Tora Harris '02, but under the technical guidance of coach Fred Samara, the jumpers are optimistic for the season.

"With Tora's graduation and Tuan Wreh of Penn also gone, both the high jump and triple jump events are wide open and we hope to assert ourselves as some of the leaders in those events," Ford-Bey said. The sprinters are led by senior Cameron Atkinson, fresh off his MVP football season. Senior classmates Patrick Schottel, Paul Simbi and Javius Wynn will look to exploit their considerable talent over the sprints and hurdles in their final indoor season.

Coming off a cross country season that saw a frustratingly good performance at the end of the season, but no national qualification, the distance squad heads into the indoor track season with a high level of fitness. Few, if any, of the distance runners will race this Saturday, opting to focus on rebuilding a training base after cross country racing. Come the New Year, the Tigers will be led in the mile, 300m and 5000m by junior All-Ivy Tristan Colangelo, sophomore Austin Smith and senior Jon Bell. Seniors Josh Ordway and Mike Baird will have to respond to an elevated level of training and score in the longer distances.

Overlapping with their cross country running teammates at a distance of 1-mile, the middle distance squad, hurt by the loss of defending Heptagonal Champion Ryan Smith '02, may be the biggest key to the team's Heptagonal championship ambitions. The schedule of events at the indoor championship play to Princeton's extreme depth in the middle distances as the 400m, 500m, 800m, 1000m, 1600m are contested.

Junior Jon Kielszak, indoor mile champion his freshman year leads a very deep squad. Junior 800m runner Josh Kauke looks to step into Smith's spikes and run to the potential he showed as the third fastest 800m in the country his senior year in high school.

"Hopefully some guys will reach national qualifying marks this season, which is definitely a reachable goal," Kielezak said. "In seeing how strong all the league teams were during cross country, every event is going to be incredibly important so there is a lot to look forward to."