Tough weekend competition will prepare indoor track for HEPs

There are only a few meets remaining before the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships, and this weekend's races against two tough opponents should serve as an excellent window for the men's and women's indoor track teams' prospects for the remainder of the season.

The men's indoor track team will have its work cut out for it this weekend, as they host two difficult teams, Penn State and Connecticut, at home this Saturday. They will also be sending 4x400-meter and 4x800m relay teams to the Melrose Games Friday night in New York City.

Both the 4x400m and the 4x800m squads have had success throughout the year. The 4x400m team took first place last weekend at the Princeton 5-Way meet in New York City with a time of 3:16.74, winning the race by nearly two seconds. They also placed second two weeks ago in the Princeton Relays, while the 4x800 team placed first in that meet.

The main event for this weekend is Saturday's tri-meet against Penn State and Connecticut in Jadwin Gymnasium. Both represent a major challenge for Princeton.

"These teams are much more competitive than what we faced last week," sophomore distance runner Jonathan Kieliszak said.

The Tigers view the meet as an excellent opportunity to see where they stand and what they will need to work on before HEPs at the end of February.

"The purpose of the meet is to post some fast times," Kieliszak said, "but also to see where the team is, especially with HEPs less than a month away."

A concern for Princeton is the inevitable injuries that tend to occur as the season wears on. The Tigers know they will have to deal with a fair number of sidelined runners, but they look to the team's depth as a major advantage. Because of it, Princeton has more options when someone goes down. The true question is how the people who fill in will do under pressure, a pressure that many of them will be facing for the first time.

Therefore the team will try to focus more on improving throughout the season and avoiding stagnant times.

"The guys are looking really strong," Kieliszak said. "Injuries will occur, but we just have to try to keep getting faster."

That is certainly the team's highest priority now as HEPs creep closer.

The women's team has challenges of its own. The weekend for them calls for a trip to State College, Pa., for a tri-meet against Penn State and Penn. Just as for the men, both of these opponents will provide for more competition than the week before.

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Princeton hopes that the outcome will be the same, however, as they were able to grab a share of first place last week in the Princeton 5-Way. The team's success was due in large part to the efforts of three individual runners and two relay teams that won their respective events.

In order to contend for the title this weekend, the team may need more support from the short-distance runners, as last weekend the five first-place finishes were all in longor middle-distance events. If the short-distance runners are able to produce a couple of victories, the Tigers should be in good shape leading into HEPs.