Outdoor track starts home season

The men's and women's outdoor track and field teams got off to a slow, but promising, start this year at the Sam Howell Invitational at Weaver Track. Most participants were slowed by the elements, including rain, wind and sheer cold. But even with the inclement weather, several Princeton athletes turned in superb individual performances.

"Unfortunately, this weekend's weather wasn't very conducive to racing," men's head coach Fred Samara said. "It really held down performances. We were very fortunate that no one was injured while competing."

The men's team got off to a very strong start on Friday night with the 10,000-meter run. Senior Dan Mackenzie finished third in the event with a time of 30 minutes and 8.74 seconds, just three seconds off the previous meet record for the event. Senior Jeff Di Chiara finished a few seconds back at 30:21.05 to take fifth place. Things continued to go well for the Tigers on Saturday in the field events. Senior Tim Releford qualified for the NCAA Championships with a javelin throw of 67.54 meters. The toss was also good enough to take first in the event by over seven meters.

"I was happy, but certainly not satisfied," Releford said after the meet. "I have made a good amount of progress since our first meet down in Myrtle Beach, [S.C.], but I know that I still have some kinks in my technique to work out."

Senior Mark Smith finished second in the hammer throw with a distance of 56.87m. He was trailed closely by freshman Matthew McNamara, who took third in the event with a throw of 52.65m. Junior Drew Geant finished fourth in the discus throw with a 42.30m effort.

"I thought that several guys performed very well at the meet," Releford said. "As a team we are well on our way to being in the position to win another Ivy League title in early May at Brown."

The Tigers continued to excel in the sprint events. Junior Dwaine Banton had a strong run into a sharp headwind to take second in the 200m dash. The sprinter from Clarendon, Jamaica also took second in the 100m dash with a time of 10.98 seconds. Senior Andrian Mullings finished fourth in the 200m, just a quarter of a second behind his teammate.

The women's team had several equally impressive performances at the Invitational. The Tigers' distance runners were led by freshmen twin sisters Caroline and Catha Mullen. The twin sisters took the top honors in their respective individual events.

Caroline Mullen began the day by winning the 1500m run with a time of 4:39.11. Princeton took five out of the top six spots in the event with the sixth place finisher just three seconds behind the winning time. The result was even more impressive considering two of those finishers, junior Caitlin Tormey and sophomore Diane Heiser, had not raced the 1500 since high school.

Catha Mullen kept the momentum rolling into the final distance event of the meet, the 3000m run. The freshman won the event with a personal-best time of 9:56.37. Junior Carrie Strickland finished third in the race, just a few seconds behind her teammate. The Tigers also had considerable success in the mid-distance and sprint events. Senior Liz Morse captured the 800m run with a time of 2:14.52. Senior Hasina Outtz also took first in the 400m hurdles, winning the event by more than four seconds with a time of 1:01.02. Finally, sophomore Juliette Poussot finished second in the 100m finals with a time of 12.54 seconds, a quarter of a second behind the top finisher.

Senior Betsy Kennedy finished second in the javelin throw with a distance of 38.6m.

"This was a good tuneup meet, especially with the weather," Caroline Mullen said after the meet. "It was the first time we have gotten to all go out as a team and compete, so I'm pretty psyched about what the rest of the season has in store."

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

The Tigers hope to continue their success next weekend. The men will be traveling to Villanova to take on Penn St., Penn, and Villanova, while the women host Penn and Yale.