Track & Field: Freshmen look ready in final Heps tuneup

Actually, the Princeton Invitational served as a final tuneup before next weekend’s Heptagonal Championships at Harvard, where the eight Ivy League schools will compete for the indoor title. The Tigers rested their top performers for some of the more demanding events at Heps.

“Sunday’s meet was pretty relaxed,” freshman Adam Hyndman explained. “The team is gearing up for Heps, and we had the convenience of resting a lot of our guys for next week.”

No one bothered to tell senior Alex Pessala that this was a relaxed meet for the team. The elite thrower, who refuses to stop setting personal bests week after week, won the weight throw with a toss of 20.99 meters. He won the event by more than seven feet, a remarkable margin. Pessala has already qualified provisionally for the NCAA Championships.

As a group, Princeton’s shot putters were even more impressive, sweeping the top five spots. Junior Eric Plummer took the top spot with a 17.07-meter effort.

The pole vaulters put together a similar performance, taking the top four spots in their competition. Freshman David Slovenski and junior Chad Faulkner both cleared 4.90 meters, with Slovenski taking the top spot because he missed fewer attempts.

Not to be outdone, the jumpers left the meet with plenty of hardware. Freshman Isaac Serwanga won the triple jump with 14.37 meters. Junior Ian Fox’ high jump of 2.03 meters was also good enough for first place.

Lincoln University — which has won 17 NCAA Division III National Championships since 1985 — provided tough competition in the sprints, taking the top three spots in the 60m dash. The Tigers held their own, however, starting with Hyndman, who was first to the line in the 200m dash with a time of 22.97 seconds.

Princeton had three representatives in the finals of the 400m dash, and each of them brought home a medal. After sitting out for a month with a hamstring injury, freshman Austin Hollimon turned in an incredible performance, blowing away the field by nearly one-and-a-half seconds by posting a time of 48.58 seconds.

“I intend to turn my Ivy-leading time into two Heps Championships,” said Hollimon, who will compete in the 400m dash and the 4x400m relay.

The Tigers dominated the middle-distance runs, sweeping the top three spots in the two events in which they competed. Senior Peter Bartlett edged out freshman Sean Wilson in the mile by eight one-hundredths of a second for a winning time of 4:21.72. Sophomore Tony Salvatore won the 800m by a similar margin over junior Jordan Hill, recording a time of 1:58.14. The Tigers put together these impressive performances despite the absence of their top distance runners.

Senior Jessica Kloss got things started for the women’s team, winning the pole vault after clearing 3.76 meters.

The Princeton women turned in strong performances in the dashes. Freshman Eileen Moran squeaked out a win in the 60m dash, running a strong 7.77-second race. Sophomore Lauren Barber led the way in the 60m hurdles with a time of 9.07 seconds, and the Tigers finished first through fourth in the event.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Senior Agatha Offorjebe also led a Princeton sweep in the 200m dash in 25.49 seconds. Freshman Michelle Yousefian won the 500m run in 1:18.50. The 800m run also belonged to the Tigers, who again took the top three spots. Sophomore Brooke Russell won the event with a personal best of 2:15.90.

Princeton had no serious competitors in the long-distance races on Sunday, though junior Liz Costello — the two-time Ivy League cross-country champion — will be among the favorites at Heps. The women’s team faces an uphill battle to defend its title from last year, but a victory is not out of the question. The red-hot men’s team, with strong performers in nearly every event, is in an excellent position to claim another championship for the Tigers.