Track and Field: Higginson takes fifth at NCAAs

Higginson’s All-America designation came off a fifth-place finish in the 3,000m run at the 2011 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. Texas A&M University hosted the meet at College Station, Texas, on Saturday, March 12. Higginson finished her race in 9 minutes, 19.04 seconds.

Higginson is only the second Princetonian to become an All-American in the 3,000m. Women’s team alumna Cack Ferrell earned the event’s honors twice, in 2005 and 2006. Higginson is the first Tiger to achieve All-America status in indoor track since 2007.

The distance runner is no stranger to the All-America circle, however. Her third-place performance in the steeplechase at last spring’s outdoor NCAA Championships earned her a first All-America honor.

Coming off of a second straight Heptagonal Championships title, the men’s performance at the Bulls Invitational season opener was hardly surprising. The Tigers continued to improve, winning races and breaking records left and right.

Sophomore mid-distance runner Russell Dinkins outran his competition and his own personal best with a time of 46.95 seconds in the 400m. Senior sprinter Mike Eddy followed Dinkins with 47.26 seconds.

Senior thrower Craig Pearce won the weight throw at 60.45 meters. None of Pearce’s competitors came close to his performance — the second-place throw landed more than 4 meters short. Freshman Jake Taylor opened his inaugural collegiate season with a strong eighth-place finish in the same event.

Junior vaulter David Slovenski edged out his competition to take top honors in the pole vaut. Slovenski was the only competitor to clear the 5.30-meter mark, and his performance on Saturday was an improvement over his previous best, 5.28 meters. Classmate and fellow vaulter Derek Hynes, who cleared 4.75 meters, took sixth place at the day’s competition.

Freshman sprinter Tom Hopkins turned heads throughout the day, breaking the top 10 in both sprint and long jump events. Hopkins led the Tigers and placed eighth in the 100m dash. Junior sprinter Kashif Smith and sophomore sprinter Sebastian Steffen followed him in 10th and 12th, respectively.

Hopkins’ seventh place also led Princeton in the 200m dash. Eddy and Steffen followed up in 11th and 13th. Hopkins also placed ninth in the long jump, behind classmate jumper Damon McLean. McLean finished the day’s competition in second place.

Hopkins also raced alongside junior sprinter Austin Hollimon, Steffen and Smith in the 4x100m medley relay; however, the team was disqualified.

Senior hurdler Adam Thayer opened his final outdoor season with a close second-place finish in the 110m hurdles. Thayer clocked in at 14.76, a hundredth of a second off his best time. Sophomore hurdler Richard Sheldon followed Thayer to take fourth-place with a time of 14.94 seconds. Junior hurdler Nilan Schnure finished eighth in the 400m hurdles, crossing the finish at 55.50.

Junior jumper Garner McCloud finished fourth in the triple jump, while freshman jumper Omar Jarrett took seventh in the high jump.

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Senior thrower George Abyad led the Tigers in the discus throw, finishing fifth with a personal record of 50.44 meters. Junior thrower Patrick Park and freshman thrower Brad Pelisek followed in ninth and 12th, respectively.

Both track teams will be traveling this weekend to continue their outdoor seasons. The women will travel to Long Branch, N.J., for the Monmouth Invitational while the men fly to sunny Palo Alto, Calif., for the Stanford Invitational. Both teams will return home the following weekend to host the Sam Howell Invitational in the Tigers’ Weaver Stadium.