Men take first, Worthen wins eighth straight championship

“The Heps meet is probably the most emotional meet that I’ve been a part of,” senior co-captain Peter Callahan said. “It just speaks to the team’s strength to be able to come back when we’re down, to have faith in each other and have faith that everyone is going to step up.”

Competing on Saturday, the Tigers lit up the track in the 10,000m, helping Princeton carve out an early lead. Toeing the line, senior Michael Franklin and juniors Chris Bendtsen, Tyler Udland and Alejandro Arroyo Yamin set out ready to score big. After sitting back for the first half, Franklin began to push the pace at the front.

Franklin hit the bell lap neck-and-neck with Mike Murphy of Columbia. Finding more gears over the final 400 meters, Franklin poured on the heat, closing out the race in 59 seconds to stop the clock at 29 minutes, 46.77 seconds. Bendtsen collared Murphy at the line for second in 29:47.00, while Arroyo Yamin and Udland finished in fourth and fifth, respectively, both at 29:47.65.

In the field Saturday, junior co-captain Tom Hopkins won the long jump in a personal best of 24 feet, 9.25 inches. In the javelin, junior Brad Pelisek beat his personal best by nearly 20 feet, landing 198 feet, 5 inches to take third.

On Sunday, the 4x100m relay of freshmen Dre Nelson and John Hill, sophomore Daniel McCord and Hopkins blitzed 40.79 seconds — the quickest time for the Tigers since 1996 and fifth-fastest ever. It was not enough to turn back Cornell, as it won in a meet record of 40.19.

Racing for the first time since he anchored Princeton to the national title in the distance medley relay, Callahan shook off his injuries to win the 1,500m.

“This week I took a look back at all the time I had put in on the bike and in the pool when I was injured,” Callahan said. “I tried to focus on all the training that I had been able to do rather than the training I was not able to do. Sometimes you forget that there’s more ways to be fit than just running.”

Callahan trailed the leaders going into the final lap. Just as it seemed like he was about to fade, Callahan changed gears and destroyed the last 200 meters, pulling away to win in 3:49.74 .

“What Heps is all about is just the team effort. More than anything, I knew that we needed those 10 points, and I knew just had to do what I had to do to get those points,” Callahan said.

As Cornell gained points in the discus, high jump and shot put, Princeton was behind going into the shorter events. Leading the Tigers, Hopkins and senior Austin Hollimon took second and third in the 400m, finishing in 47.09 and 48.22, respectively. Hollimon came back to win the 400m hurdles in 52.30, while Hopkins placed fourth in the 200m in 21.29.

Coming from behind over the final turn in the 800m, senior Russell Dinkins sprinted down the homestretch to win in a personal best of 1:48.24, while sophomore Bradley Paternostro came in fourth at 1:49.20.

In the 5,000m, the 10K crew — plus sophomore Sam Pons — came back hungry for more. In the lead on the final lap, Franklin once again had a Columbia runner breathing down his neck. As the Lions’ Daniel Everett moved around him in the last 100 meters, Franklin found another gear, surging back into the lead right before the line. Franklin took his second win of the meet in 14:10.85, with Bendtsen and Pons in third and fifth.

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Picking it up in the field, junior Damon McLean got to work in the triple jump. After fouling a huge jump that carried him near 16 meters, McLean cleared 15.86 meters on his third attempt for the win. Continuing to add to Princeton’s point total, sophomore Stephen Soerens and senior Ricky Sheldon placed second and third in the decathlon, both setting personal bests of 7,212 and 7,000 points, respectively.

Making up a 10- to 20-meter deficit to Cornell in the 4x800m, Callahan anchored the Tigers past the Big Red and into second place behind Columbia. In the 4x400m, the final event, Hollimon anchored the same squad that qualified for the Championship of America at the Penn Relays to a time of 3:10.60 for first, sealing the team title.

In the team battle on the women’s side, Princeton placed fourth with 104 points. Harvard finished narrowly ahead with 118, while Columbia was second with 121; Cornell was the champion with 145 points. Putting together many impressive performances, the Tigers finished the weekend with six event wins.

“The goal is always to get first, so it’s disappointing not to win. But I think that looking at how everyone performed it’s tough to get too down,” senior co-captain Greta Feldman said. “People popped up and scored in all different events. Overall we had a pretty good day.”

Making Ivy League history on Saturday, senior Tory Worthen capped off an undefeated Heps career in the pole vault. Topping 3.82 meters to win her eighth straight title, Worthen became just the seventh athlete ever in conference history to sweep an individual event. She is the first athlete on that elite list for the Princeton women.

“I had confidence, and I knew that I had jumped a high height at Penn Relays,” Worthen said. “I put a lot of pressure on myself — you never want to be less than your best, and so far my best has been winning. Winning all the Heps titles has been a big goal of mine since last year.”

Setting herself up to perhaps follow in Worthen’s footsteps, freshman Julia Ratcliffe destroyed the competition in the hammer, throwing a meet record of 66.51 meters to win by over five meters.

Running before the men in the 10K Saturday, senior Abby Levene broke away early with a small lead pack of Cornellians and Olivia Mickle from Brown. Gutting it out over the long 25-lap race, Levene ran tough to finish in fifth place in 34:43.18, while Cornell’s Katie Kellner defended her title in 33:29.64. Coming back the next day at noon, Levene again picked up points in the 5,000m, placing sixth in 16:42.79.

Following the 5K, senior Mel Newbery raced for the Tigers in the 3,000m steeplechase. Pushing hard over the final 400 meters of the tough race, Newbery took a tumble into the water pit rounding the final turn. Rallying strongly, Newbery didn’t lose a spot as she got up to finish third in 10:20.76. Later in the day, Newbery doubled back to take fourth in a competitive flat 3K, crossing the line in a personal best of 9:34.33.

Taking control of the 800m final, Feldman surged over the homestretch to win in a negative-split 2:05.90, while junior Kacie O’Neil was fifth in 2:08.66. Just over an hour earlier, Feldman took second in the 1,500m in 4:25.38, while Dartmouth’s accomplished stud Abby D’Agostino time-trialed away from the field to finish 100 meters ahead in 4:11.94. Feldman closed out a busy day with the 4x800m relay, as she anchored the Tigers to win in 8:40.58.

“I had to keep in mind that after the 1,500 I still had two other races. The extra point I might have gained from going with [D’Agostino] when she took off probably wouldn’t have been worth it,” Feldman said. “Still, I felt very comfortable on the track, and it was great to get the win in the 800.”

Competing in the 400m, sophomore Cecilia Barowski avenged a narrow loss at the indoor meet, winning in 54.64. The previous day in qualifying rounds, Barowski knocked on the door of 54.00 as she set a personal best and school record with a 54.17. Also garnering her first Heps title, junior Imani Oliver won the triple jump with a wind-aided 12.87.

After coming off of a bitter loss at indoor heps, winning the Ivy League meet meant a lot to the Tigers. For both men and women, the Heps competition is always a memorable one.

“Especially all the seniors, we’re just so proud to be able to come away with a win in our last Heps race,” Callahan said. “Coming down the last 100 meters of the 4x800m, it was weird thinking to myself, ‘This is the last race I will ever run at Heps.’ To be able to finish it out with a team win was just so great.”