On the men’s side, sophomore Kyle Soloff led all Tigers in the 1,000m run, recording a second-place time of two minutes, 27.23 seconds.
Sophomore Mike Eddy also performed well, placing third in the 500m dash with a time of 1:04.76. Junior Brian Li-A-Ping and freshman Ricky Kearney also ran with Eddy in the 500m, recording middle-of-the-pack performances.
Soloff was very satisfied with the race he ran, crediting one of his teammates for his efforts in the 1,000m.
“I was happy with how the race went,” Soloff said. “My teammate [junior] Ben White established a good early pace, and with a couple laps to go, I felt good, so I was able to finish pretty strong.”
At the Penn State National Open, Princeton also posted a top-10 finish in one of the longer distance events. Senior Cameron Marantz paced all Tiger runners in the 5,000m, clocking in at 14:47.35, which was good enough for 10th overall.
Freshman Joe Stilin placed eighth in the 3,000m event,with a time of 8:30.07.
The Orange and Black’s best performance in the 800m final was given by junior Jordan Hill, who crossed the finish line in 1:54.74. Senior Colin Plummer and sophomore Tony Salvatore also participated in the event.
Representing the team in the 60m hurdles was senior Chris Vasich, who qualified for the semifinals with a time of 8.28 seconds. He finished in 13th place. Sophomore Adam Thayer also competed in the 60m hurdle event.
Princeton also fared well in the high jump. Juniors Justin Frick and Ian Fox represented the Tigers in this event, and they placed fourth and sixth, respectively, with Frick notching a 2.11-meter performance and Fox putting in a 2.06-meter effort.
In the pole vault, junior Chad Faulkner and freshman Dave Slovenski both posted vaults of 4.85 meters, earning them seventh and ninth places in the event.
The women also had a solid weekend at Penn State. Shining for Princeton was senior Jolee VanLeuven, who beat out every other runner in the 5,000m event. Her time of 16:37.79 preliminarily secures her a spot in the NCAA tournament in May.
VanLeuven credits her success in the race to a strategic move that she made during the competition.
“It was great to be able to race with two of my teammates at such a fast track,” VanLeuven said. “My coach’s one instruction was to get out fast, but of course I ended up getting boxed in because I started in lane one. After that, I just kept focused on slowly moving up. After the first 3K, I was right behind the Penn girl and just focused on staying right behind her. I made my move with three laps to go.”
Also in the 5,000m, freshman Alex Banfich finished close behind in third place, while sophomore Sarah Cummings finished sixth.
In the relays, Princeton posted its best outing in the 4x800m event, where the squad of seniors Melissa Swigert and Megan Brandeland, junior Alexa Glencer and sophomore Libby Bliss clocked in at 9:17.28, good enough for fourth place in the event finals.
Junior Liz Costello led all Tigers in the mile event, earning sixth place with a time of 4:48.22. Brandeland finished 12th in that event, while Glencer finished close behind in 16th.
Senior Jessica Kloss and freshman Lydia Arias competed in the pole vault for Princeton. Kloss finished in ninth place with a 3.76-meter effort, and Arias posted a 3.51-meter performance, good for 16th.
Sophomores Bianca Williams and Tiffany Liu participated in the triple jump, posting jumps of 11.15 meters and 10.49 meters, respectively.
In the weight throw event, sophomore Emma Ruggiero represented Princeton, placing 21st in the event with a throw of 14.64 meters.
Also over Intersession, senior Duane Hynes earned the top score in the nation during a mini-heptathlon held at Jadwin Gymnasium on Jan. 27 and 28.
Hynes set personal bests in the high jump, the 1,000m and the 60m hurdles. The senior’s marks met NCAA provisional qualifying standards.
Next up for the men’s and women’s teams is the Princeton Invitational, which will be held at Jadwin on Saturday at 11 a.m. Several members of both teams will also travel to New York City the day before to compete in the New Balance Collegiate Invitational.
Their performances at the Penn State National Open should give them some momentum heading into these two important events.
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