Last Saturday marked the running of the historic H-Y-P triangular track meet. As has come to be expected in recent years, the Princeton men opted for practicality rather than tradition — they chose not to compete in Cambridge but to send their top scorers to the highly contested Armory Invitational.
The former Armory's banked mondo track is considered one of the fastest in the country. As a result, a national cross section of teams, including Texas and North Carolina, traveled to the facility nestled in a nondescript building off Broadway in NYC's Washington Heights district.
The individual performances from select Tigers were impressive, although the competitors achieved no automatic national qualifying times, a pre-meet objective.
The men's distance medley relay, composed of some of the most talented runners in recent Princeton history, were victorious, narrowly edging powerhouse Georgetown, 9:43.08 to 9:44.5.
The lead-off 1200 meter leg was run by junior Jon Kieleszak, who passed the baton to sophomore Justin Reed for a 400m sprint, then to junior Josh Kauke for 800m and finally to the anchor leg of senior Mike Baird for 1600m. Combining the personal bests of all team members would have yielded a national qualifying time. Relays often unfold tactically, however, and despite securing the victory, a national qualifying time was not achieved.
"The focus of the meet was Friday night's DMR," Baird said. "It just did not end up being the dream race we were hoping for. Jon, Josh, Justin and I are all haunted by the few seconds we could each have shaved off in order to catapult ourselves to nationals."
Baird used that slight disappointment as fuel for Saturday's individual mile race. "Doubling back in the mile was exciting, though intimidating, especially against such fresh, proven competition as the Villanova guys," Baird said.
Those "Villanova guys" were multiple-time All-Americas and sub-four minute milers Adrian Blincoe and Ryan Hayden. The race was perfectly paced, yet Baird could not hold on through the final quarter to break the elusive four minute mark and gain an automatic national qualifying time.
In his own words, "I left the line in prime position on Saturday, tucking in right behind two pacesetters from Villanova, effectively hijacking the rabbits. My pace was quite fast and smooth through about 1350 meters, but I did not quite have the energy or confidence to close over the final lap, and Blincoe and Hayden created a gap on me. I could practically taste the four minute mile, and let me tell you, I'm hungry."
Although this season has been highlighted by the heroics of the shaggy-haired blonde, other Princetonians recorded impressive marks. Senior Jon Bell placed third in a time of 8:12.51, five seconds behind victor Tom Parlapiano of Villanova. Jeff Dichiara, a stalwart at the longer distances, circled the track 25 times for a seventh place time of 14:50.05 in the 5000m.
Junior All-American Josh McCaughey placed second in the weight throw with a distance of 19.19m. Purdue's Scott Heck won with a throw of 19.70m. Junior Mark Smith placed eighth at 16.14m.
Junior Marcus Ford-Bey placed an impressive second in the triple jump with a leap of 14.05m, falling to Tim Brown of Texas (14.64m).
While in recent weeks the focus has been on individual performances, the Tigers shift focus in preparation for the Heptagonal Championships, which loom a little over a week away.
The Princeton Invitational will be held at Jadwin Gym this Saturday, although most of the top scorers will be resting their legs and minds from the rigors of racing in preparation for running multiple events next weekend at Dartmouth. The attitude on the men's team is one of confidence, and rightly so, as the results from the Armory exhibit.
"When we travel up to Dartmouth for the Heps next weekend, we will be ready to absolutely roll," Baird said. "I plan to win my chosen events, and to utterly extinguish my opponent's hearts as I scorch their legs."
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