One of the most impressive and exciting events of the two-day meet was the women’s 3,000m steeplechase. Junior Megan Brandeland and freshman Liz Deir posted tremendous performances in the race, with Brandeland finishing in 10 minutes, 41.13 seconds and Deir finishing eight seconds behind. Both ran regional qualifying times, placing third and fourth overall in the event.
25-year-old Delilah DiCrescenzo blew away the competition by finishing in 10:03.80, beating her competitors by more than 27 seconds. DiCrescenzo is a full-time athlete and assistant track coach who currently is also training for the 2008 Olympic trials. In addition to her athletic prowess, DiCrescenzo also holds the distinction of having inspired the Plain White T’s song “Hey There Delilah.”
The Sam Howell Invitational is a popular meet for unattached runners like DiCrescenzo who have already graduated from college. The increased competition makes the field a lot tougher for the collegiate competitors.
Other noteworthy performances at the meet included Princeton’s near sweep of the 5,000m run. Freshmen Ashley Higginson and Sarah Cummings, along with junior Jolee VanLeuven, all ran regional qualifying times, placing second, third and fourth, respectively.
While Cummings and VanLeuven held steady with each other from the start, Higginson relied on a final spurt in the last 200m to finish alongside the two with a time of 16:43.23. The Tigers have done well in the 5,000m recently: Cummings won the event in the 2008 Indoor Heptagonal Championships in the beginning of March, while VanLeuven placed third at that meet.
Freshman Isabell von Loga continued her dominant season in the shot put. Though she threw nearly four feet under her personal best, she beat her closest competitor by a foot and claimed the win for the Tigers. At the Indoor Heptagonal Championships, von Loga recorded a personal best of 51 feet, five inches. Von Loga is determined to add to her already impressive list of accolades, including Ivy League Champion and Ivy League record-holder in the shot put, as well as the record holder at Cornell’s Barton Hall Field House.
“Considering that it’s still the beginning of the year, I guess I’m satisfied with my performance. But I hope I still have time to get back to where I was at the end of the indoor season,” von Loga said.
Despite not qualifying for the regional competition, junior Emma Giunipero set a new personal record in the hammer throw with a toss of 134’ 11’’.
The 800m was especially exciting for Princeton, as four Tigers ran in the first heat. Senior Karen Aherne, freshman Libby Bliss, junior Melissa Swigert and freshman Brooke Russell all ran in one of the most competitive events of the meet. Bliss was the top finisher for the Tigers with a time of 2:15.60, while the other three followed close behind.
“It was sort of expected that we would have some great performances, but coming in we thought the weather would be a factor with rain possibly slowing some of the track events,” women’s assistant coach Thomas Harrington said. “But it turned out to be great competition conditions, and we were excited to see them perform so well.”
On the men’s side, the Tigers had tremendous performances in both the running and field events. Senior James O’Toole led the way in the 1,500m run with a regional qualifying time of 3:47.02. Senior Frank Tinney also qualified for regionals by posting a time of 14:11.74 in the 5,000m run, finishing second in the event. In the 100m dash, junior sprinter Shafiq Kashmiri ran a blistering 10.98 seconds, the top finish among collegiate runners in the event.
Continuing his tremendous performances from earlier in the season, sophomore Justin Frick won the high jump with a leap of 6’ 8.75”. Junior Duane Hynes also won the long jump with a jump of 23’, 6”.
Princeton claimed the top two spots in the pole vault, behind the performances of senior Will Byrd and sophomore Chad Faulkner. Byrd tied the regional qualifying mark with a height of 16’ 6.75’’.
Also qualifying for regionals was sophomore Eric Plummer whose throw of 56’ 8.75’’ in the shot put earned him third place in the event.
Seven athletes in the meet bettered regional qualifying marks in the hammer throw, including freshman Craig Pearce and junior Alex Pessala.
“Right now we’re just building toward the Ivy outdoors Heptagonal Championships, trying to get together a solid team for that competition,” Harrington said. “We have a little over a month …and I’d say we’re looking pretty good at this point.”
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