Track & Field: Big Red a scare for Heps foes

“We knew at [the Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet on Feb. 14] that we weren’t at full strength,” women’s head coach Peter Farrell. “I’m very proud of the way the team pulled together.”

After losing to Harvard at HYP, the women’s team rebounded for Heps with a strong effort, nearly pulling off an upset. It held a small lead after the first day of competition and was neck-and-neck with Cornell on Sunday until the sprints finals. But the Big Red put the meet away, winning 117.5 to 99 over the Tigers. Cornell took the top two spots in the 200m dash and swept the 60m dash, earning 42 points between the events, more than its final margin of victory.

Two epic performances from freshman Eileen Moran did not break up Cornell’s dominance in the sprints. Moran’s qualifying time of 7.63 seconds set a Princeton record in the 60m, but she did not score in the final. Her 200m time of 24.88 was one of the fastest ever posted by a Tiger, but it was only good enough for third place.

Senior Agatha Offorjebe placed third in the 400m dash with a time of 55.22. Sophomore Brooke Russell, one of the favorites in the 800m, fell in the final but came back with a gutsy performance in the 4x800m relay, helping the team earn four points in its fourth-place performance. The 4x400m relay team also finished fourth.

Princeton flexed its muscles in the longer races, scoring at least 10 points in each of the three events. Junior Liz Costello took second with a very fast indoor mile, setting an NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 4:47.47. Sophomore Ashley Higginson followed at 4:55.95 for fifth place.

A quartet of cross-country stars dominated the 5,000m run, taking four of the top five spots and claiming 24 of the 31 points up for grabs. Sophomore Sarah Cummings kicked her way to victory in 16:51.86, while senior Jolee VanLeuven — a consummate team player who did much of the pace-setting during the race — finished second in 16:53.75. Junior Reilly Kiernan and freshman Alex Banfich followed in fourth and fifth, respectively. Kiernan is also an associate editor for news for The Daily Princetonian.

The group completed a tough double, competing the following day in the 3,000m run and again taking four of the top five spots. Cummings came within a tenth of a second of sweeping the distance races, finishing a close second in 9:35.59. VanLeuven, Banfich and Kiernan took third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

“The great thing about Heps is that the excitement is contagious,” VanLeuven said. “Every time one of your teammates succeeds, you get fired up to go out there, put it on the line and contribute.”

The star of the field events was senior Jessica Kloss, who barely missed 13 feet after clearing 3.95 meters in the pole vault. Kloss’ effort is the second-best vault in championship history. Freshman Lydia Arias placed fifth after clearing 3.65 meters and netted 12 points for Princeton in the competition. Junior Aundeah Kearney also added a point for Princeton with a 5.51-meter effort in the long jump, good enough for sixth place.

Sophomore KC Wade scored six points for the team with a third-place finish in the pentathlon. Sophomore Thanithia Billings also finished third in the shot put with a throw of 14.11 meters.

“When I compete, I want the win,” Billings said, adding that “the way we competed [as a team] was truly inspirational.”

The men’s team featured equally inspirational performances, perhaps none more memorable than senior Duane Hynes’ effort in the heptathlon. For the second straight year, Hynes won the toughest event on the track, but this time he did it with a broken foot.

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Though Cornell bested Princeton, 176.5 to 121.5, the Tigers had the top two individual performers, as Hynes and freshman David Slovenski were voted co-athletes of the meet. Slovenski posted a 5.27-meter pole vault, setting a meet record and matching a 27-year-old conference record. Junior Chad Faulkner was fourth and freshman Derek Hynes placed sixth in the event.

Senior Alex Pessala completed a three-peat in the weight throw, winning the competition for the third time. His 21.07-meter toss met NCAA provisional qualifying standards and was more than four feet longer than that of the second-place finisher. Sophomore Craig Pearce placed third, and junior Joel Karacozoff followed in sixth. The Tigers claimed 17 points in the event overall.

Junior Justin Frick’s winning jump of 2.20 meters also met NCAA provisional qualifying standards for the high jump. Junior Ian Fox also scored points for Princeton with a fifth-place finish.

Senior Chris Vasich scored a surprise victory in the 60m hurdles, upsetting pre-race favorite Matt Jasmin of Brown by two-hundredths of a second. Sophomore Mike Eddy followed up with another victory in the 500m dash, blowing away the field with a blazing 1:02.65.

Freshman Brian Leung pulled off an exhausting double to add seven points to the team score. He followed up a sixth-place finish in the 3,000m run with a third-place finish in the 5,000m with a time of 14:27.70. Freshman Donn Cabral finished fifth.

Princeton runners scored in all the distance events. Sophomore Kyle Soloff and freshman Trevor Van Ackeren took the fifth and sixth spots in the 1,000m run. Senior Michael Maag came home in fifth after a slow, tactical mile, clocking in at 4:16.86 and coming up just short in a tight sprint to the finish.

Princeton’s other scoring performances came in the sprints. Sophomore Meko McCray was seventh in the 60m dash, while senior Ian Thomson finished fifth in the 400m. The Tigers fell just short in the 4x400m relay, while the 4x800m and distance medley relays both took fourth.