Spring brings start of outdoor season meets

At the sound of the gun, the track season officially kicked off this past weekend for both of Princeton's men and women track teams. Well, at least on the track that we commonly think of. While the track team has been training for months and the indoor season ended in March, the advent of April brings the beginning of the more exciting outdoor season of track. Though the outdoor season is shorter, it introduces new events, and to many athletes it is the more important half of the track season. To begin properly, the men's team traveled to the Navy Invitational in Annapolis, Maryland while the women drove to Fairfax, Virginia to the George Mason Invitational.

Though hoping to win, the ultimate goal of the men's team in Maryland was revitalizing the athletes after a long, exhausting and laborious indoor season. Although some athletes traveled to warm San Diego over spring break to compete against various California state schools, this invitational served as the first meet of the outdoor season, helping the Princeton athletes to resettle into this even more strenuous and tiring few weeks of competition.

"Our main focus is getting everyone healthy again after the long indoor season and peaking for Heps [Ivy League championship] in 5 weeks," senior captain Kyle Whitaker said. "This was also the first meet of the outdoor season for a lot of guys ... who hadn't competed in over a month so it was good to get back into competition."

Still, only a handful of athletes attended this invitational. Most of the distance runners did not run this weekend, conserving their energy and strength in order to make sure they peak and run personal records during the upcoming championship meets.

Despite the windy conditions, a plethora of Tigers set personal records both in the field and on the track. Freshman Alex Pessala and senior Josh Probst starred on the field. Pessala threw for 56.55 meters in the hammer throw, claiming first place and beating by more than four meters fellow teammates senior Ken Stringer and junior Matt McNamara, who placed second and third respectively. Senior Josh Probst performed similarly well in the javelin throw, with a winning throw of 64.62 meters to beat second-place Rutgers by more than 1.5 meters.

On the track, the men ran at blistering speed. Senior Ray Lenihan barely eked out a win in the 110-meter hurdles, defeating the second-place Penn hurdler by less than .4 seconds. Though Lenihan was able to out-step his opponents, sophomore Kurt Kuehne had less luck, losing out the top place to finish second in the 1500 meter run by .3 seconds. However, overall, Princeton did its best.

"Though the team competed pretty well after a long break from competition," Whitaker said. "It's now just a matter of continuing to improve and build upon what we did this week, so that when we line things up in a few weeks at Heps, we can take home the team title for the first time in 5 years."

Women at George Mason

The women, on the other hand, faced more difficult competition. Challenging a number of Virginia's largest state schools, the Tigers were greatly outnumbered in several events. Despite this and battling terrible wind conditions, the Princetonians left their mark on the meet, claiming first in a handful of events, and left the meet pleased.

"It was the first outdoor meet for the whole team [some raced in Florida last weekend during our training trip], so it was just a good opportunity for individuals to get back to racing, jumping, throwing and see where they stand," senior captain Lindsay Cole said. "It was also the first meet where people could compete in some of the outdoor-only events like the 400 meter hurdles and the 3,000 meter steeplechase."

And with the introduction of these two events, Princeton easily dominated the field and hopefully created a precedent for the remainder of the season. Senior Suzanne Andrews, though 15 seconds slower than her seed time, was still able to grab the title in the 3,000 meter steeplechase, running in at 10:55.99, defeating second place sophomore Heather Iatauro by over 22 seconds. Junior Rachel Farnsworth rounded out the top three spots for Princeton, finishing just four seconds after Iatauro at 11:22.51.

Senior Jordan Wagenseller had the most exciting race of the weekend. Though seeded first by over 3 seconds in the 800 meter, Wagenseller barely grabbed the title in a blazing race to the finish. Coming in six seconds slower than her seed, Wagenseller defeated the second-place William and Mary runner by only .08 of a second, and third-place Northwestern by a little more than half a second.

Like the men, the women also performed well in the field, winning both the discus throw and the hammer throw. Freshman Emma Giunipero grabbed the victory in the discus throw by throwing 41.13 meters, .1 meters farther than second-place VCU. Senior Laura Okpala easily won the hammer throw, beating her seed length by over 8 meters to win with 49.37 meters, over three meters farther than second-place Mount St. Mary's and barely missing the school record.

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In all, it was a great meet for the women, though the meet was unscored. The women left with the hope of realizing their potential at future meets.

"Everyone kept a good attitude and I think the meet showed great potential for the rest of the outdoor season," said Cole. "Everyone has been working really hard in practice, so if we can keep a healthy roster, I think we'll see great results as the outdoor season progresses."