Track & Field: Barowski sets new Princeton record

In her first open 400-meter race of the outdoor season at the George Mason Patriot Open Invitational in Virginia last Saturday, sophomore Cecilia Barowski did not have high expectations. Still, when the gun sounded, Barowski took off fast. Driving over the final meters, Barowski took fourth in the competitive race, as she stopped the clock in 54.30 seconds — setting a new Princeton program record.

“I really did not anticipate running that fast. I woke up on Friday with an irritated hamstring, and I just wanted to get through the race on Saturday without aggravating the injury,” Barowski said. “I was really surprised by the time. From the beginning of the season, I knew that I wanted to break the record, but this weekend was a surprise.”

Barowski, who also has set school records indoors in the 4x400m and 500m, as well as the outdoor 4x400m, took down Agatha Offorjebe ’09’s old best of 54.38. While Barowski’s time is great for early April, she has her sights set even higher.

“I’m still hoping to break 54 this year. If I can run a nice 53 at Heps, I’d be pretty happy,” Barowski said. “I’m glad I broke the record and had a good race, even though I didn’t anticipate it. But I’m definitely not satisfied with that time and am excited to go after it.”

Writing and rewriting the record books for the triple jump over the past seasons, both indoors and out, junior Imani Oliver added another program best of her own on Saturday. Hitting each of her jumps, Oliver leapt to a Princeton outdoor record of 12.71 meters or 41 feet, 8.25 inches. Her jump gave her the victory by over a foot and edged her old mark by eight inches. Like Barowski, Oliver was not quite expecting such a performance.

“I was just trying to go out there and have fun. We’re still in training mode, so when you’re working hard and lifting all the time, you might not perform so well,” Oliver said. “I had a couple of friends and coaches cheering me on, yelling, ‘Don’t look back; you can do it.’ That was really helpful, and I just went out and got the jump.”

Over the winter, Oliver worked hard on her jumping technique. Results showed, as she set an overall personal best and school indoor record of 12.74 meters at the Ivy League championships in February, taking third. That technique and strength has carried over with her outdoors.

“I’ve been working on my second phase during the indoor season, and I feel like that training is really starting to take effect,” Oliver said. “I actually changed some more just a few weeks ago, and it was cool to see that it’s starting to manifest itself in my jumping. It’s a good feeling.”

In the record books, Oliver now stands over a foot in front of the next best triple jumper to compete for Princeton. After making the NCAA Regional meet the past two years, Oliver is hoping to make the jump to the national meet and also challenge the Ivy League title.

“If I can stay healthy and keep training, I’m really excited for the rest of the season, trying to make it on to the next level,” Oliver said. “I’m excited to keep going and hopefully get some big jumps in.”

While Barowski’s and Oliver’s records highlighted the meet, the Tigers put down several other quality performances as they started to round into shape.

In the 800m, senior co-captain Greta Feldman ran a new season best of 2 minutes, 6.97 seconds to place fifth overall. Classmate Alexis Mikaelian ran 2:09.43 to take 10th overall, while junior Kacie O’Neil took 11th, winning her heat in 2:09.90.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Sophomore Jackie Nicholas took the 3000m steeplechase by over 10 seconds with a time of 10:41.20 — a new personal best. In the 1500m, senior Mel Newbery ran a strong race to finish sixth overall in 4:25.81.

On the men’s side, junior Damon Mclean had a busy day in the field, as he took first in the long jump and second in the triple jump, clearing 23 feet, 6.25 inches and 50 feet, 7.5 inches, respectively. Behind him in third in the long jump, senior Isaac Serwanga jumped 22 feet, 8.5 inches. A newcomer to the track team, Serwanga has played on both the varsity football and basketball teams.

On the track, junior co-captain Tom Hopkins won the 400m in 47.20 seconds. In the 800m, sophomore Bradley Paternostro ran a season best of 1:50.08 to take 11th overall. Meanwhile, senior Nathan Mathabane ran his fastest race since his return to the track from injury, running 1:51.15 for 14th.

In upcoming action, several of the distance runners will be racing at the highly competitive Mt. SAC Invitational in California later this week. On Friday evening and Saturday, the Tigers will host the Larry Ellis Invitational.