This past weekend was especially tough for the men's and women's track and field teams. On top of papers and problem sets, and only a week after the exhausting Heptagonal Championships, the two squads had to gear up to compete against some of the best teams in the region at the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) and Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes in America Outdoor Championships.
"I think that it's difficult for us when we have the league meet the week before," men's head coach Fred Samara said. "It does create some problems."
The Tigers, though, managed to do just fine. The women's team posted a strong sixth place finish in a field of 49 teams at the ECAC Championships, while the men pulled off a 16th-place finish in the IC4A Championships. Princeton hosted both events.
"Sometimes there's a letdown after Heps, but I'm very happy with sixth place," women's head coach Peter Farrell said of his squad's finish.
To say that Farrell was satisfied with his team's performance, though, might be an understatement. An impressive 16 Princeton women qualified for the NCAA Regional Championships later this month in Gainesville, Fla., and several others recorded personal bests. While the distance runners continued to anchor the Tigers' overall point total, the sprinters and field competitors delivered much-improved performances.
The distance squad proved its worth, contributing 27.5 of Princeton's 39 points. Senior Catha Mullen ran a lifetime best in the 1,500-meter preliminaries, clocking in at four minutes, 22.43 seconds, and then finished fifth in the final. In the 10,000 m, sophomore Jolee VanLeuven repeated her first-place finish at the Heptagonal Championships in 34:58.82, cutting 20 seconds off her Heps time. Junior Caitlin McTague just missed qualifying for the NCAA Regional Championship with a time of 17:03.38 in the 5,000 m.
Freshman Reilly Kiernan and senior Jen Johnson were slightly off their performances from earlier this season, but both ran NCAA-qualifying times in one of the most grueling events in track and field — the 3,000 m steeplechase. Kiernan and Johnson finished fifth and sixth, respectively. Freshman Liz Costello came up short of qualifying for the 800 m final, finishing ninth overall, despite posting a NCAA regional qualifying time of 2:09.68.
Sophomore sprinter Agatha Offorjebe clocked in at 55.31 in the 400 m for a third-place finish overall. Farrell cited Offorjebe as perhaps his most improved runner from a year ago. Last season, Offorjebe failed to qualify for the ECAC Championships.
In the field events, sophomore pole vaulter Jess Kloss and junior hammer thrower Emma Harper both performed well. Kloss vaulted to a height of 11 feet, 11.25 inches for fourth place and 4.5 points for the Tigers. Harper hurled the hammer a personal best 170' 3" — just short of the school record — to finish seventh.
"It's hard to do that [well] one week after the league week," Farrell said. "You always hope that they'll perform their best, but this time they did it. They went out there and they did it."
The highlight of the day for the men was definitely freshman Justin Frick's first-place showing in the high jump. Frick's career-best 7' 1/4" jump earned him a spot at the NCAA Regional Championships and catapulted Princeton from 25th overall to 16th. No other competitor came within three inches of the freshman's mark.
Elsewhere in the infield, senior pole vaulter Andrew Park finished fourth after vaulting 16' 6.75". Park's vault qualified him for the NCAA Regional Championships and added five more points to the Tigers' total. Meanwhile, sophomore Alex Pessala contributed three points after throwing the hammer 190' 4". Pessala's performance qualified him for the NCAA Regional Championships as well. Junior Alex Willis tied for sixth in the high jump, clearing the bar at 6' 6.75".
Saturday was a tough day for Princeton's runners, though sophomore Shafiq Kashmiri was strong in the sprints. Kashmiri ran a 10.79 in the 100 m and a 21.64 in the 200 m.
In a frustrating twist for the Tigers, sophomore decathlete Duane Hynes pulled his groin so severely in his first pole vault of the day that he will be out for the rest of the season. Hynes had already qualified for the NCAA Championships.
Though many members of the men's team did not compete at the IC4A Championships, Samara was happy with the performances of those who did.
"We've got 10 athletes going to the NCAA Regional meet in Florida, so that's really what we're aiming for," Samara said.
Georgetown snagged first overall in the ECAC Championships with 79 points, while Liberty took first in the IC4A Championships with 77 points.
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