Track & Field: Runners host Princeton Invitational this weekend

The teams participating in the Invitational include the City College of New York, Delaware University, University of the District of Columbia, Franklin & Marshall, Georgian Court University, Holy Family University, Kutztown University, Shippensburg University, Towson University and York College.

Both the men’s (22-2 overall, 3-0 Ivy League) and women’s (19-6, 2-2) teams are coming off of successful weekends against Harvard and Yale. It was the women’s second straight Harvard-Yale-Princeton win, with a score of 90.5 points against Harvard’s 41.5 and Yale’s 27. The women took first place in 10 of their 15 events of the day.

The men also crushed the opposition, scoring 114 points to beat the Crimson’s 36 points and the Bulldogs’ 19 points. Among the men’s 14 first-place finishes of 16 events last weekend was sophomore distance runner Peter Callahan’s record-breaking finish in the 800m dash. His time of 1 minute, 48.66 seconds broke a 22-year HYP record and now stands as the fourth-fastest time in league history.

“We see the great team performance at HYP as a stepping stone for the upcoming championships and hope that we can continue to fire on all cylinders and bring home the trophy,” Callahan said.

The Tigers view the upcoming Invitational as a practice round for the Ivy League Heptagonals, which will take place at the Armory on Feb. 26 and 27.

“We use the meet to tune some kids for the league meet or give others one more opportunity to compete,” women’s head coach Peter Farrell said.

Because of the impending Ivy League meet, the Princeton Invitational will have a different dynamic than the teams are used to, because a variety of people will be getting an opportunity to compete.

“This coming weekend is interesting in that it is the weekend before the Ivy League Championships,” Callahan said. “Because the Heps are the most important team meet of the year, many athletes will not be competing at the Princeton [Invitational] so as to recover and get ready for the Championships a week later. Those who do compete at the Princeton [Invitational], however, will have some great competition and there should be some exciting events.”

With the league championships in mind, the Tigers look to the Invitational as a stepping stone for the next big challenge ahead.

“As a team, everyone is getting geared up for Heps. It has been our focus for months, and it’s hard to believe it’s almost here,” Callahan said. “We won the indoor title last winter, and we’re certainly looking to make a run for it again this time around.”

“Hopefully this weekend goes well at both locations and everyone comes out of it healthy and ready to go at the championships,” he added.