W. track places second behind Yale in Ivy meet

Like a train making its way out of the station, the women's outdoor track season continues to pick up steam as the Tigers came in second behind Yale this weekend at an Ivy Meet in icy, gray New Haven, Conn.

Princeton raced against both Penn and Yale, and though Yale won the meet by a considerable margin, Princeton's final score of 57.50 points was enough for second. Penn finished up the standing by trailing in third, 10 points below the Tigers. The scores were representative of the competitiveness of the Ivy League this year, with teams both expected and unexpected, including Princeton, vying with the traditional powers for the outdoor track title.

That competitiveness was made even more apparent by the unusual way in which the meet was scored. The automatic timers traditionally used to time the shorter races such as the 100m and 200m dashes and the hurdle events were absent, which naturally led to some confusion over who had actually won certain races. Without an automatic timer, it is nearly impossible to say whether or not one runner or the other has crossed the finish line first, since that type of race is often determined by margins of less than a second, if that.

Junior Hasina Outtz won her event in the hurdles, for example, and likely set a personal record, but sophomore Jen Byrd, who placed third in the long jump and also ran the hurdles, ended up with little idea of her overall placing in that event.

"It was strange," Byrd said. "They scored some things wrong, and it got kinda confusing without [the automatic timers]."

Among top finishers for the Tigers was Outtz, who placed first in both the 100 meter hurdles and the 400m hurdles; junior Laura Petrillo, who took first place in the 3000m steeplechase; freshman Molly Jones, who placed first in the triple jump; and senior Rachel Rosemeyer, who took first in the discus throw.

Princeton entered the event looking to strengthen its resolve heading into the Heptagonal Championships, which loom a mere three weeks away. Competing against Yale and Penn — both Ivy teams — should provide the Tigers with information as to what to expect come the Championships in early May.

"Yale does have a pretty strong program," said Byrd, "though Cornell does, too. There are a lot of really competitive teams out there this year. We've got a good shot though."

The Tigers have a lot of young talent, which makes strong leadership that much more important. Fortunately, the senior captains and junior leaders have more than stepped up to provide the underclassmen with role models on which to base their competitive expectations.

Freshman standouts such as Cack Ferrell and Meredith Lambert, among others, have also helped propel the team to success.

But it always helps to have more experience, and so meets like the Yale-Princeton-Penn one provide ample opportunity for learning and training. Though some might say the meet could be viewed almost entirely as a warm-up for more important ones later in the season, most athletes on the Princeton team will tell you that that's anything but the case.

"We went in there really wanting to be competitive," said Byrd. "I think we did a pretty good job, too."

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A good job indeed. Having now hit their stride, the Tigers look forward to entering the season's second stanza, and for the all-important final showdown at Heptagonals in May.

Princeton competes next week at the Lafayette Invitational in Easton, Pa.