Runners peaking with Heps approaching

The meet also gives them the chance to be the best. Just ask sophomore Liz Costello or freshman Ashley Higginson.

Costello and Higginson both won their races against many of the best runners in the nation. Costello’s time of nine minutes, 35.01 seconds in the 3,000m was eight seconds better than that of her next closest competitor, Aeriel Emig from Cornell. Though the men’s team did not have any first-place finishes over the weekend, the Tigers were competitive in many races and events.

Higginson, who won at the Penn Relays in high school, proved she could also get it done against collegiate competition. She won the 5,000m with a time of 16:22.56, edging out Yale’s Lindsay Donaldson by almost two seconds. Higginson’s teammate and fellow freshman Sarah Cummings took third in the race with a time of 16:30.52.

Costello and the women’s track team also took home a victory in the 4x800m relay Saturday. The relay team — made up of senior co-captain Liz Bergold, senior Karen Aherne, freshman Libby Bliss and Costello — won the college women’s division with a time of 8:53.13.

“Karen Aherne stepped up and ran really well to put us into the lead,” Bergold said, “while Liz had a great finish holding off Duke on the last lap.”

Other top performances included junior Megan Brandeland’s time of 10:24.67 in the steeplechase, which was good enough for second place. Junior Emma Giunipero placed seventh in the discus with a throw of 142 feet, four inches, and senior Emma Harper’s hammer throw of 165’8” earned her fifth place. The women’s 4x400m team placed fourth out of seven Ivy League schools in the heptagonal race, with a time of 3:49.74.

Freshman George Abyad competed in both the discus championship and the shot put “Eastern” division. His discus throw of 167’9” earned him fifth, while his shot put launch of 47’10” was good enough for 16th place.

Sophomore thrower Eric Plummer also headlined this weekend’s finishes. His throw of 57’2” earned him fourth in the highly competitive men’s shot put championship division.

“Eric and George competed against some of the nation’s best,” head coach Fred Samara said. “They showed great competitiveness and composure.”

Junior Alex Pessala competed in the men’s hammer throw championship, placing seventh with a toss of 196’4”, while sophomore Justin Frick cleared 6’9.75” in the high jump.

Princeton had one significant highlight in the men’s running events: Senior Dave Nightingale earned a 10th-place finish in the 5,000m. Though his time of 14:04.05 was not one of his best, Nightingale’s ability to even compete at this level after being sidelined by an injury is noteworthy.

“We think that given a healthy next four to six weeks, he’ll be right up there with the nation’s top runners,” Samara said.

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With the Heptagonal Championships quickly approaching, both the men’s and women’s teams have plenty of motivation to build on their performances this past weekend. The women are looking to defend their indoor title, while the men cannot wait for the chance to regain the title outdoors after Cornell took it from them in March.