Though no points were put on the board, the men’s and women’s track and field teams made their point on Saturday: They’re ready. The teams hosted the Princeton Invitational at the Lawrenceville School as a final “tune-up” meet before both teams compete at the Heptagonal Championships next weekend in Hanover, N.H. The meet came on the heels of a remarkable performance at the Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet last weekend, with both teams crushing their Harvard and Yale counterparts.
Despite a skeleton crew of Tiger athletes, the men dominated the field events. Senior throwers Eric Plummer and Joel Karacozoff led the effort. Plummer won both throwing events, with distances of 17.32 meters in the weight throw and 16.78 meters in the shot put. Karacozoff was close behind, with 16.52 meters in the weight throw and 16.30 meters in shot put, following Plummer with two second-place results.
Senior Ian Fox sprung to 2.10 meters in the men’s high jump, claiming first and jumping just short of an NCAA provisional cut. Sophomore Derek Hynes finished off the men’s field events, tying for first in the pole vault.
Though sophomore Austin Hollimon did not compete at the H-Y-P meet last weekend, he continued his undefeated season in style, easily winning the men’s triple jump with 14.07 meters.
“For the most part, this meet was simply about preparation,” Hollimon said. “In a lot of ways, it was a glorified practice — you don’t want to get hurt. Coming out of it, we saw decent performances, but for the most part, we’re ready for Heps after this meet.”
Head coach Fred Samara agreed with Hollimon’s analysis.
“We used this meet to test some athletes to see where they are and to keep them sharp. The meet served its purpose: it sets us up very well for Heps next weekend,” he said.
The women’s field team won all the events it entered, choosing to save the bulk of its efforts for next weekend’s championships. Junior Emma Ruggiero continued an exceptional season by again winning the women’s weight throw with 16.19 meters.
Freshman Tory Worthen led a one-two-three sweep of the women’s pole-vaulting event with 3.90 meters, over sophomore Lydia Arias’ 3.60 meters and freshman Lauren Tauscher’s 3.50 meters.
In the track events, the most exciting races of the day came from both the men’s and women’s 55m dash. The high-school track provided for the shorter 55m dash where, in collegiate competition, 60m is often the standard for racing.
Sophomore Ivan Charbonneau placed third in the men’s race with freshman teammate Akil Sharp close behind for a fourth-place finish of 6.66 seconds. Sophomore Eileen Moran teamed with freshmen Erin Guty and Abidemi Adenikinju for a two-three-four finish in the women’s race.
“Overall, everyone did pretty well and raced well,” Moran said about the smaller invitational. “Basing off of how we did at H-Y-P, it’s definitely going to be a close meet between all the Ivies. If everyone races the way we did at H-Y-P, we have a good shot if we can all just pull together and run our best.”
Not willing to be outdone by their teammates, the 55m hurdlers had similar success. Junior Bianca Mathabane won the event in 8.38 seconds, while her classmate Lauren Barber placed second in 8.53 seconds. Junior Libby Bliss narrowly won the women’s 800m run in two minutes and 16.82 seconds, finishing only .08 seconds ahead of her second-place competitor. The Tigers had an impressive showing, posting six of the top eight times.
Princeton’s other individual winner was junior Tony Salvatore in the 1,000m run. His time of 2:29.00 led an impressive one-two-three showing that included senior Jeff Carbonella’s 2:30.66 and junior Hudson Andrews’ 2:30.68. This showing of depth will be important for the rest of the season.
“Heps is going to be very competitive between us and Cornell,” Samara said. “Our top-line guys are performing very well, but depth is the key. We’re hoping that the 33 guys we bring will all score and keep us in the team running.”
“I’m excited, and I think the team is excited,” Hollimon added. “We’re ready to get rolling as a team, both men and women.”
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