Led by senior All-Americans Cack Ferrell and Frank Macreery, Princeton track and field dominated the distance events at the Heptagonal championships at Penn's Franklin Field in Philadelphia. Each won two grueling distance events over the two day meet and led a number of their Tiger teammates to top finishes in the distances.
The men placed second as a team, nearly taking down perennial powerhouse Cornell. The Big Red, winners of the past four championships, were down 60-22 coming into Sunday's races but pulled ahead for a 129-114 victory.
Frank Macreery followed up his spectacular season with an epic performance when it mattered most. The senior took home the title in both the 10,000 and 5,000 meters on back-to-back days. Princeton supported its top runner well, earning four of the top sox spots in the 5,000m. Sophomore Frank Tinney also completed the 10,000m 5,000m double, placing fifth and fourth, respectively.
Although the women's team could not put together all of the necessary pieces for a top three overall finish, the Tigers rebounded from a seventh place finish after day one to take fifth overall in the meet. The squad finished seventy-one points behind the first place Big Red, but only fourteen points out of a top three finish.
The Tigers scored the majority of their points in the distance events primarily because of the strong efforts of senior Cack Ferrell.
Ferrell won the 5,000m on Sunday in convincing fashion, pulling away from the pack in the final stages of the race to finish in 16:26.82. Freshman teammate Jolee Van Leuven was not far behind, this time taking fourth in the event.
Ferrell came back just four hours later to win a competitive 3,000m run, in which Princeton took four out of the top five places. Ferrell took the lead from Yale All-American Lindsay Donaldson in the final straightaway, crossing the line at nine minutes and 35.17 seconds. Junior Catha Mullen also edged out Donaldson, finishing just behind Ferrell. Senior Susanne Andrews and Van Leuven rounded out the Tiger field finishing in fourth and fifth place, respectively.
Andrews was also the top Princeton finisher in the steeplechase, breaking her own school record with a time of 10:32.10 for a third place position on the podium.
Beyond the distances, Tiger men relied on their depth as opposed to individual performances to establish themselves. The Tigers placed in the top five in the steeplechase, the decathlon, the 400m, the 200m and the 100m.
Sophomore Bill Foran and junior Brian Shields followed up their solid performances in the 4x400 last week at the Relays with fourth and third places in the 200m respectively. Shields also finished fifth in the 100m.
The underclass tandem of sophomore Will Byrd and freshman Duane Hynes gave the Tigers a strong showing in the decathlon. With scores of 6,849 and 6,754 points they finished second and fourth. The Tigers continued their strong performance in the distance events with a fifth place finish in the steeplechase by freshman Brian Sharkey.
Junior Rich Stewart bridged the gap between Princeton's performances in the sprinting and distance events with a fifth place finish in the 400 meters at 48.12 seconds. The winner of that race, Columbia's Erison Hurtault, set a new Ivy league record with a time of 46.12 seconds. Hurtault was named the Most Outstanding Performer of the meet.
For the women, freshman pole-vaulter Jessica Kloss was the Tigers' only individual champion other than Ferrell. Kloss cleared her best mark of the year at 12 feet and 5.5 inches. The Princeton freshman surprised the field with a jump that left last year's champion, Yale's Molly Lederman, in second place.
Also in the field, senior Laura Okpala concluded her Ivy League career with a third place finish in the women's hammer throw.
For the team's seniors, Heps was the final Ivy League meet of their collegiate career. Next weekend's ECAC championships will be their final opportunity to race for Princeton University.
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