Track & Field: HYP victory makes for 26 in a row

The men’s team finished with 83 points, an impressive score that included 10 first-place finishes in the meet’s 17 events. The women’s team finished 18 points behind Harvard, coming in second with a score of 59.

“Some sprinters did alright,” said senior Ian Thomson, who finished second in the 400m dash.

Thomson’s comment was an understatement, as the sprinters recorded multiple wins. Junior Andrew Usoro won the 200m dash with a time of 23.11 seconds. Sophomore Mike Eddy completed a hat-trick of three straight wins at the 500m distance, clocking a season-best 1:03.58.

“I was really pleased with our team’s performance at HYP,” Eddy said. “I think it’s going to give us the kind of momentum we need as we move toward the [Heptagonal Championships].”

The Tigers also dominated in the distance events. Sophomore Kyle Soloff won the 1,000m run, posting a time of 2:27.70. Senior Michael Maag excelled in his indoor debut in the mile, clocking in with a blistering time of 4:05.82 and recording a margin of victory of nearly six seconds. Maag’s time is all the more impressive considering the sharpness of the curves of an indoor track.

Princeton demonstrated its youth and depth in the 3,000m event, placing five freshmen in the top 10. The Tigers will need every bit of this depth to compensate for the pending loss of senior captain Duane Hynes, the Ivy League’s best heptathlete and a potential scorer in the long and high jumps.

After suffering a stress fracture in his foot, Hynes is questionable for Heps. His participation would help the Tigers hold off a challenge from a strong Cornell squad.

All four athletes who scored in the shot put were Tigers. Junior Eric Plummer topped the list with a throw of 17.05 meters. Senior Alex Pessala completed a sweep of the throwing events for Princeton, winning the weight throw with a toss of 19.90 meters.

The Tigers took the top two spots in the high jump. Junior Justin Frick was the only jumper to clear two meters, and his winning jump of 2.14 meters met the NCAA provisional qualifying standard in the event. Sophomore Garner McCloud posted a triple jump of 13.70 meters, more than a meter longer than the second-place jump posted by Yale’s Yifan Chen.

Senior Chris Vasich was first in the 60m hurdles, posting a time of 8.25 seconds. The Tigers also won the 4x400m relay in 3:17.23, edging Yale by two-tenths of a second.

The women’s team did not enjoy as much success. Where the men’s team won several tight battles, the women suffered a number of equally close losses.

“I think the theme of the day was ‘less than thrilled,’ ” junior Liz Costello said. “We really have to step it up if we intend to defend our indoor title [at Heps].”

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Still, a successful title defense is a definite possibility for the Tigers. Princeton’s sophomore throwers should earn some high marks at Heps, where top finishes are rewarded heavily. Sophomore Thanithia Billings recorded a season-best 14.45 meters to win the shot put, while sophomore Emma Ruggiero won the weight throw with a 15.03-meter effort for her first ever collegiate victory.

“I think this experience will help us come together as a team and win Heps,” Ruggiero said.

Princeton’s underclass sprinters — one of the team’s strengths — came up just short in some close finishes. It was senior Agatha Offorjebe who recorded Princeton’s only sprint victory, cruising home in 25.28 seconds to win the 200m. Freshman Lydia Arias cleared 3.35 meters in the pole vault and won a tiebreaker over Harvard’s Stacy Jung to claim the top spot.

The distance runners turned in perhaps the strongest collective performance for the women’s track and field team. Princeton took the top two spots in the mile, with Costello returning to championship form by winning the event with a time of 5:01.99. The Tigers claimed four of the top five spots in the 3,000m run, with sophomore Sarah Cummings finishing second with a time of 9:31.20. Her time was good enough to meet the NCAA provisional qualifying standard in the event.

The upcoming Heps meet is the second leg of the “triple crown” for Princeton’s track and field teams. The men’s and women’s cross-country teams both won the first leg with victories at Heps. Though both teams — the women’s team in particular — will endure stiff competition, the Tigers are among the favorites to continue their remarkable success of recent years.