Across-the-board wins at local meet

The 800-meter dash was Princeton’s time to shine in the Invitational. The Tigers posted the top four times in the men’s race and top three times in the women’s race. Sophomore Jeff Carbonella finished with a time of one minute, 54.98 seconds, followed by junior Mike Kowal, sophomore Jordan Hill and freshman Tony Salvatore. Senior Karen Aherne had an easy victory for the women with a time of 2:14.62. Her teammates junior Melissa Swigert and freshman Liz Deir came in second and third, respectively.

The men’s 1,000m run was another Tiger highlight. Princeton senior Rob Grote won the race with a time of 2:27.07. Sophomore Ben White was just behind Grote in 2:27.92, and freshman Dennis Walsh came in a close third in 2:28.37.

“With Heps coming up next weekend, a meet heavily weighted toward the middle distances, our performance in the 1,000 bodes well for a successful run at the league championship,” junior Michael Maag said. The middle-distance events were not the only place the Tigers performed well, however. Five runners at the meet had automatic qualifiers for NCAAs in the men’s 55-meter dash, including junior Shafiq Kashmiri, who came in third, just three-hundredths of a second off the lead.

The field events also saw strong performances from Princeton. Junior Alex Pessala once again had a convincing win in the men’s weight throw. His toss of 19.21 meters was good enough to beat out Monmouth’s Ed Skowronski, who threw the weight 19.12 meters. Freshman Craig Pearce finished third in the event with a throw of 18.55 meters. For the women, Amanda Marshall from Delaware won the event, and Tigers senior Emma Harper and freshman Emma Ruggiero finished third and fourth, respectively.

The Tigers swept both the men’s and women’s shot put. Sophomore Eric Plummer won for the men with a distance of 16.92 meters. Freshman Isabell von Loga had an NCAA provisional distance of 15.60 meters to win the women’s event. Freshman Thanithia Billings was a distant second with a solid toss of 13.70 meters.

In the women’s long jump, sophomore Liz Stevens’ jump of 5.58 meters tied for first with Millersville’s Maggi Majka. For the men, Dwayne Banton from Navy jumped 7.82 meters, a full meter further than Princeton’s fourth-place finisher, freshman Dion Lehman.

In the men’s triple jump, Tiger freshman Garner McCloud was an easy winner with a jump of 14.40 meters, beating the second-best distance by about a meter and a half.

Junior Jess Kloss won the women’s pole vault, clearing a height of 3.81 meters. Senior Will Byrd took first in the men’s pole vault, clearing a height of 4.90 meters. Sophomore Chad Faulkner finished second in the competition for the Tigers.

The men’s high jumpers took the first four spots in the competition. Sophomore Justin Frick cleared the bar at 2.09 meters, sophomore Ian Fox was right behind him at 2.04, freshman Adam Thayer finished third with a jump of 1.99 meters, and senior Alex Willis was in fourth, clearing 1.94 meters. Freshman Johanna Valdez finished second for the Tigers in the women’s high jump, clearing 1.65 meters. Towson’s Laura Passalacqua finished first with a jump of 1.75 meters.

Tiger junior Chris Vasich also was an NCAA automatic qualifier for the 55-meter hurdles race, winning in 7.64 seconds. Freshman Bianca Mathabane won for the women with a time of 8.31.

In the men’s mile race, the Tigers took the second, third and fourth spots behind Delaware’s Brad Dodson’s time of 4:19.09. Sophomore Jimmy Joy ran the mile in 4:21.30 to lead the Tigers.

“Our milers ran pretty well,” said Maag, who is the Tigers’ best distance runner but did not participate in the meet. “The pacing was a bit erratic, so the times in the race were somewhat insignificant.”

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The Tigers will hope to continue their success when they compete in the 2008 Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Track & Field Championships next weekend at Cornell.