Princeton men’s track and field had a weekend to remember in Ithaca, N.Y. after securing a team victory at the Ivy League Indoor Track and Field Championships with 173 points, well ahead of second-place Harvard (116 points) and third-place Penn (91 points). This is the program’s 23rd Ivy League victory in school history and its ninth since 2010. On the women’s side, the Tigers improved upon last year’s fifth-place team finish to place fourth overall at this year’s championships with 68 points, behind Cornell (82.5 points), Harvard (126 points), and Penn (133 points).
Notable individual performances for the men’s team include junior Joey Daniels’ win in the 60m hurdles — an event he has won for the past two consecutive seasons — in a time of 7.77 seconds, which not only set a new school record but also a meet and conference record. Sophomore Andrei Iosivas, who was named Most Outstanding Field Performer at the conclusion of the meet, also defended his league title with a total score of 5523 in the heptathlon.
Other first-place finishers include sophomore C.J. Licata in the shot put (18.55 meters), senior Justice Dixon in the 200m (21.66s), junior Jeff Hollis in the high jump (2.14 meters), and junior Sam Ellis in the 1000m (2:25.65). The Tigers also put together a strong group for the Distance Medley Relay as Ellis, senior JC Colangelo, sophomore Scott Thompson, and junior Eli Krahn came out on top in 9:58.20.
The sophomore class’s strong performances impressed, too, with Christian Brown finishing behind Daniels in the 60m hurdles (7.91s), Greg Sholars finishing in second in the 200m (21.72s) and third in the 60m dash (6.86s), Dayo Abeeb placing second in the triple jump (15.35 meters), and Michael Phillippy crossing the line in second in the 400m (48.42s) in a time that would, with the flat-to-banked track conversion, translate to a new personal record.
Junior Ed Trippas, last year’s Ivy League and NCAA Regional 3K steeplechase champion, finished less than two seconds behind Kieran Tuntivate of Harvard in the 5K. In an exciting dash to the finish, Trippas split 59.02 over the last 400m of the race and crossed the line in a new personal-best time of 14:22.34, coming just shy of the win. On the field, junior Kelton Chastulik finished behind Licata in the shot put after throwing a new indoor personal-best mark of 17.80 meters, and senior Gab Montefalcone finished behind Iosivas in the heptathlon with 5353 points.
"[The] team could not have performed better than it did," Men’s Head Coach Fred Samara said, in an interview with the Ivy League Network.
"From the first event to the last event, we had amazing performances, many many [personal records]. Our team spirit and dedication is exceptional. It's really a 33-man team that just believes in itself so much and performs at the highest level when it comes to the Heps," he said.
On the women’s side, numerous Princeton Tigers placed amongst the top three in their respective events. In the throws arena, sophomore Luisa Chandler-Edmond took second place out of an extremely talented field in the weight throw with a mark of 18.74m, while first-year Annika Kelly was close behind in fifth with a throw of 17.14m. In the shot put, junior Julia Harisay earned a sixth-place finish with a throw of 13.95m.
The women also competed fiercely in the longer distances, with two top-five finishers in the mile as sophomores India Weir and Gillian Wagner claimed fourth and fifth place in times of 4:59:63 and 5:04:83, respectively. Weir then came together with junior Peyton Brown, sophomore Isabella Hilditch, and junior Sophie Cantine in the Distance Medley Relay (DMR) to earn third place in an impressive time of 11:34:58. Also finishing in third was the 4x400 relay team comprised of junior Katie DiFrancesco, senior Heide Baron, first-year Arianna Smith, and senior Ashley Willingham, crossing the line in a time of 3:45:49 — the fifth fastest in school history. DiFrancesco finished fifth in the 200m with a time of 24.53s.
Other excellent performances on the track came from the first-years, with Charlotte O’Toole running 1:15.26 to place third in the 500m, Olivia Hee placing fifth in the 60m dash in a time of 7.61s, and Maggie Hock also finishing in fifth over 1000m, crossing the finish line in 2:54.64.
Both the men’s and women’s teams will be taking a much-needed rest before they start preparing for the outdoor season in mid-March.
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