NCAAs motivate Tigers

Princeton's men's and women's track and field teams are preparing for their biggest meet so far this season, the NCAA Division I Regional Championships, to be held next weekend, May 25-26, at the University of Florida's Stadium at Percy Beard Track, in Gainesville, Fla. Hundreds of athletes from more than 300 colleges and universities will assemble to determine who will move on to next month's NCAA National Championships to be hosted in Sacramento, Calif.

The men's team plans to continue what head coach Fred Samara enthusiastically calls a "great year" by sending an unprecedented eight competitors, Princeton's largest group ever, to next weekend's Regional Championships.

The size of the men's contingent is especially impressive given Princeton's participation in the NCAA's largest and most competitive region, the East, which runs from Maine down the eastern seaboard to Florida and encompasses more than 100 Division I institutions with men's track and field teams.

Princeton's contingent will include sophomore Michael Maag, juniors David Nightingale and Frank Tinney in the 5000 m.; junior James O'Toole in the 1500 m.; freshman Justin Frick in the high jump; senior Andrew Park in the pole vault; sophomore Alex Pessala in the hammer throw; and freshman Eric Plummer in the shot put.

The men's team comes off a strong showing in this week's Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes in America (IC4A) Championship. Standout individual performances came from Park, Pessala and sophomore runner Shafiq Kashmiri, but most notable was Frick's personal-best seven-foot, quarter-inch high jump, the meet's only jump above 7', which earned 10 of Princeton's 21 overall points at that meet.

Looking ahead to next week's regional meet, Samara says he continues to be "really pleased with [his] team's performance in all events" and believes Princeton's representatives at the Regional Championships will confirm their standing as "some of the really top guys in the East."

Distance stars seek NCAA berths

Not to be outdone, Princeton's women's track and field will build on their second-place finish at the Ivy League Heptagonals and sixth-place finish at the ECAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships by sending nine competitors of their own to next week's Regional Championships in Florida.

Senior Catha Mullen, freshman Christy Johnson, and sophomore Jolee VanLeuven will race in the 5000 m. Meanwhile, senior Caroline Mullen along with freshman Liz Costello will take on the 1500 m. Freshman Reilly Kiernan, senior Jen Johnson and sophomore Megan Brandeland will race in the 3000 m steeplechase, while sophomore standout Agatha Offorjebe will compete in the 400 m. Kiernan is also a staff writer for The Daily Princetonian.

Though he is decidedly upbeat about his team's prospects, women's track and field head coach Peter Farrell emphasizes that qualifying for the Regional Championships "is a great accomplishment in itself," as the size of the region — there are 112 women's track and field programs in the NCAA's Eastern Region — makes this competition "almost a national meet," he said.

"Qualifying for Regionals means that these women are in the top-20 or -25 athletes in each event," Farrell added.

The women's team will follow up an impressive performance at this week's ECAC Championships, which saw a career-best time of 4:22.43 for Catha Mullen in the 1500 m. VanLeuven repeated with another first-place finish in the 10,000 m following her victory in the Ivy League Heptagonals. Spirited efforts at ECACs also came from from sophomore pole vaulter Jess Kloss, who reached the 11'11.25" mark, and junior hammer thrower Emma Harper, who threw 170'3" — nearly breaking a school record in that event. Offorjebe also posted a strong 400 m dash with a time of 55.31 seconds.

Results from next weekend's Regional Championship determine who will advance to the 2007 NCAA National Track and Field Championships, to be held June 6-9 at the California State University, Sacramento's Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex.