Beginning with the men’s and women’s Heptagonal cross country championships and continuing through the indoor and outdoor track seasons, the cross country and track and field teams have made Farrell’s prediction a reality.
Loaded with young talent, the women’s cross country team found itself among the nation’s best early in the season. Ranked No. 4 in the nation for most of the year, the harriers progressed through their meets with an undefeated record. Led by sophomores Liz Costello and Christy Johnson, the women’s cross country team won the Ivy League Heptagonal Championship for the second year in a row and went on to earn a regional title and a trip to the NCAA team championship.
Not to be outdone, the men’s cross country team competed strongly despite an early injury to senior All-American and captain Dave Nightingale. Junior Michael Maag showed he was ready to lead the team, however, and stepped up to win the individual championship. The team followed Maag’s lead and successfully defended its Heps title, securing Princeton’s spot as the best cross country team in the Ivy League. Though Princeton did not advance as a team to the NCAA championships, Maag, Nightingale and sophomore Ben Sitler competed as individuals. Maag was named an All-American with his 59th-place finish.
Joined by junior heptathlete Duane Hynes and other members of the track team, Maag carried this dominance into the indoor track and field season. Maag captured the 3,000m Heps championship, while Hynes edged senior teammate Will Byrd for the heptathlon title. Freshman Mike Eddy won the 500m Heps race, while junior Justin Frick cleared over seven feet to win the high jump. These individual winners helped Princeton earned second overall in the Heps championships.
Stellar performances by underclassmen helped the women’s track team wrestle the Heps team title away from Cornell, breaking the Big Red’s streak of six straight. Freshman Isabel Von Loga set the shot put meet record with a toss of 51 feet, five inches. Freshman Lauren Barber won the 60m hurdles, and Liz Costello added to her individual cross country Heps title, taking home the indoor mile championship. Princeton’s relay teams also came up big, with a senior-laden 4x800 team outrunning its competition to earn first place and a 4x400 scoring key points with a fourth-place finish.
With two-thirds of the triple crown complete, the women’s track and field team hoped to make history outdoors. Led by senior co-captains Emma Harper and Liz Bergold, Princeton saw a number of individual Heps champions. Junior Jess Kloss won the pole vault title, qualifying for regionals in the process. Fellow juniors Jolee VanLeuven and Megan Brandeland took home individual titles in the 10,000m and 3,000m steeplechase respectively. Von Loga defended her indoor title in the shot put, while her classmate Ashley Higginson raced to a first-place finish in the 5,000m. Despite these individual champions, Cornell proved too strong in the sprint and field events, barely edging out Princeton and ending the Tigers’ dreams of their first triple crown since 1981.
Cornell proved too tough for the men’s track team as well, defeating it in the team championship. But the men also saw great individual performances from both their veterans and underclassmen. Freshman shot putter Eric Plummer won the individual title, while junior Alex Pessala won his fifth Heps title in the hammer throw. Nightingale battled through an early-season injury to capture the 5k championship, out-kicking his opponent on the last lap. Also of note, senior Nick Crumpton qualified for the NCAA regionals in the triple jump, while senior Frank Tinney’s personal-record time in the 5k also earned him a spot in this weekend’s regionals. Crumpton is also a staff photographer for The Daily Princetonian.
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