Track & Field: Elite Meet is a final tune-up for Heps

The men's and women’s track teams will host the Elite Meet, the final meet of the season before the Ivy League Championship, this Saturday at Weaver Stadium.

In this event, Princeton will host teams from Brown, Central Park Track Club, Columbia, Dartmouth, Kutztown, Manhattan, Millersville, Montclair State, NYU, Penn, Ramapo, Rowan, Shippensburg, Stevens Institute, The College of New Jersey and Yale.

The Elite Meet running events will begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday, with women’s and men’s events alternating throughout the afternoon, starting with the steeplechase and ending at 6 p.m. with the 4x400m relay. The field events will begin at 11 a.m. with women’s and men’s events also alternating, beginning with the hammer throw and ending with the pole vault at 2 p.m.

The forecast is auspicious for what the Tigers hope will be a solid weekend of preparation for the championships.

“I am really excited because the weather is supposed to be nice, which should allow us to get some fast times," freshman Joie Hand said. "It’s a last chance to get in some nice personal performances before Heps next weekend. I’m hoping that the girls and guys will see some positive results from all the hard work they've put in and can get a nice confidence boost before the championships.”

The Ivy League Outdoor Heptagonal Championship (Heps) is definitely the focus of both the men's and women's teams heading into this weekend.

“This is a low-key meet,” senior Liz Costello said. “It is really an opportunity to fine tune your performance or a final chance to qualify for the Ivy League Championship meet next weekend, and not all of our athletes will be competing, since some may need a weekend to rest rather than fine tune for the Heps.”

Sophomore runner Nilan Schnure said that the women’s team is motivated to excel in the upcoming meets by a desire to keep the Ivy title the team won during the indoor season.

“We won the indoor Ivy League title by a decent margin over Cornell this year, so we are really excited to bring that energy for the outdoor meet, too,” Schnure said.

Schnure also noted the recent success of the men’s team. “A bunch of the relays have been doing well; the distance medley relay set a school record in indoor, and the 4x400m had a nice showing at Penn Relays last weekend,” he said. “We've also had some great individual performances lately, like Conor McCullough in the hammer and Donn Cabral in the 3000m steeplechase, for example. Overall, everyone has been putting in a lot of work, and I think we're all excited to make that pay off,” he said.

The Tigers will also host Heps, which will take place May 8 and 9.