Men's, women's track charge to Ithaca for Heps

The indoor track season will reach its pinnacle this weekend, as the men's and women's teams travel to Cornell for the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships.

The Tigers hope that all the preparation and training will allow them to unseat Cornell, the defending champion for both the men and the women.

While Cornell may be the favorite, however, the Tigers feel confident that they have the ability to come home champions.

"I think Heps is ours to win or lose," sophomore John Basler said. "If we all keep the ultimate goal of winning the meet in mind during our performances, the meet will be ours."

One advantage for the Tigers is the strength of the middle distance squad for both men and women. This will be especially crucial for the men, as five of their events will be in the middle distances.

The men's middle distance squad is anchored by senior captain Jonathon Kieliszak, senior Josh Kauke, and junior Alexis Tingan. Kieliszak is the defending Heps champion in the mile, and this year looks to win the 1000-meter run, in which he placed second last year.

The women's squad will be led by senior Emily Kroshus and sophomore Cack Ferrell, who are favorites in the mile run and the 3000m run. Kroshus, Ferrell, and sophomore Meredith Lambert have all provisionally qualified for the NCAA championships in this event, and look to dominate the field at Heps.

The men's team also features a throwing squad that has consistently performed throughout the season. Senior captain Rocky Craley and junior Paul Lyons are expected to lead the shot put, and senior Josh McCaughey is a strong favorite in the 35 lb. weight throw, an event for which he is a provisional NCAA qualifier.

Still, it will take the focused efforts of the entire team for Princeton to come out on top. The Tigers certainly have the talent to place well in many events. "I think that this year our team's strength is that we are relatively well-balanced and have a lot of depth" senior Jeff Key said, "in addition to the fact that we have a very talented freshman class that is running very well and should have a solid performance at Heps."

In their quests for the titles, both the men and the women will face stiff competition.

"Basically, this is just going to be a blood and guts meet in which every event is important and every point counts," senior captain Hasina Outtz said. "The league is more even than it has been and there are several teams that have a realistic chance of taking the title."

For the women, defending champion Cornell is the favorite. The Big Red are led by senior Johanna Garrity in the 60m hurdles and junior Jessica Brown in the 800m run.

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The Tigers also will face strong runs from both Harvard and Yale. The Crimson feature a strong throwing team, while the Elis expect to place well in the sprinting events.

"Cornell is the favorite, but we are not conceding anything," women's head coach Peter Farrell said. "We are stretching our athletes across the board and it should be extremely competitive."

Cornell is also favored to win the men's championship, anchored by its strong sprinting squad. Junior Rahim Wooley is the favorite in the 60m dash, as is senior Mike Nanaszko in the 400m dash.

Columbia also may be poised to make a run for the title, led by senior Steve Sundell who looks to win both the 3000m and 5000m runs.

The men's team looks to reclaim the title it lost to Cornell last year. Before that, the Tigers had won five straight championships and 12 total since 1980.

The women are looking for their first Heps win since 1998. However, the team has won six championships since the meet was instituted in 1981.