Men, women outrace foes at H-Y-P meet

Heptagonals have not always been kind to senior Alexis Tingan. As a freshman, he fell in the preliminaries of the 500-meter dash, failing to qualify for the finals. The next year, Tingan fell during the finals of the 500m and finished last. Last year, as a junior, he enjoyed a better fate, placing third in the 800m. But as a senior, Tingan's goal is clear: win the 800m Heps title.

Unlike past years, Tingan has spent this season focusing solely on the 800m race. He has run it four times this season, winning three of the races with his most recent victory coming on Saturday.

Tingan's first-place showing in a time of 1:52 contributed to Princeton's weekend win over Harvard and Yale. Both the men's and women's track teams posted victories at the H-Y-P meet, held in New Haven, Conn. The men's team dominated, scoring 80 points to Yale's 55 and Harvard's 35. The women's race was much tighter, but Princeton emerged with the win, topping Yale 75-65. The Harvard women's team could only muster 19 points.

Several other athletes on the men's team also won their events. Sophomore Richard Stewart won the 400m dash, while senior Mike Kopp ran 1:03 to take the 500m run. Sophomore Ray Lenihan placed first in the 60m hurdles, recording the win with a time of 8.12.

Off the track, sophomore Andrew Park set a new personal best with his pole vault of 16'9". Because the women's vault took longer than usual, the running events had already ended while the men's pole vault continued. Park found himself vaulting in front of the entire men's team who had gathered to cheer him on. Buoyed by the support of his teammates, Park set a new personal best, surpassing a height he had jumped in high school. His teammate, junior Kyle Whitaker, took second place with his vault of 15'9".

Senior Dwaine Banton won the long jump, and sophomore Matthew McNamara took first in the weight throw.

On the women's side, senior Chanel Lattimer was able to defeat the competitor who she battled throughout the weekend. Although Yale's Joslyn Woodard beat Lattimer by a tenth of a second in the preliminaries of the 60m dash, Lattimer came back in the event's finals to win with a time of 7.68, a significant improvement over her previous personal best of 7.74. With her win, Lattimer set a new school record and tied the meet record, formerly attributed to Woodard.

Lattimer said she was not even sure she had won the event, much less set new records.

"It was really close at the line, and I tried to lean," she said. "My coach said, 'I think you won,' but I wasn't really sure."

Also contributing to the women's team's victory was junior Cack Ferrell, who ran the mile in 4:41, earning first-place honors. The time represented a significant improvement for Ferrell and set both the school record and the meet record. She had run 4:44 in a relay previously, but her best time in an open event was 4:47. Ferrell, who now has one of the top times nationally in both the 3,000m and the mile, will run both events in two weeks at Heps.

In the 3,000m race, the Tigers swept the first four places. Junior Meredith Lambert took first in 9:44 and was followed by sophomores Mia Swenson and Caroline Mullen and senior Marian Bihrle.

Seniors Brooke Minor and Amy Krilla took first and second in the high jump, while senior Jenn Byrd took second in the 60m hurdles and the long jump. Junior Laura Okpala posted a win in the women's weight throw with her length of 47'1.5".

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Next weekend, both the men's and women's teams will stay at home to compete in the Princeton Invitational on Saturday. However, most of the top runners on both squads skip the meet to rest for Heps, which will be held the following Saturday and Sunday at Harvard. The biggest event of the indoor season, Heps represents the culmination of a winter full of racing. For Tingan and his teammates, this weekend's showing was another step in the right direction.

"Heps is about experience," Tingan said. "It's about knowing how to race."