On Halloween, the men’s cross country team captured its fifth consecutive Ivy League Heptagonal Championship (Heps) title at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. The victory marked the Tigers’ 26th title all-time and came exactly 50 years after the program’s first championship win.
Junior Myles Hogan dominated the field, taking the individual title with a commanding 48-second lead over Harvard’s Tam Gavenas — the fifth-largest margin of victory in Heps history. Hogan finished in 23:26.40, setting a new Van Cortlandt Park Heps course record and clocking one of the top three fastest times in meet history.
The historic course has hosted Ivy League championships for more than a century, and only two other runners have ever broken the 24-minute barrier. With his performance on Friday, Hogan now joins that elite group.
“We think about the bigger picture — the Princeton teams that have done big things at this meet before us and running for them,” Hogan told The Daily Princetonian. “Things can change in an instant, so we came in anticipating a battle with the idea of not giving our opponents an inch. The larger idea of not leaving a shadow of doubt and making an undeniable outcome fed this competitive hunger.”
With finishes of first, fifth, seventh, eighth, and 11th, Princeton scored 32 points to secure the title, edging out second-place Harvard (46).
Senior Jackson Shorten was next across the line for the Tigers, taking fifth in 24:24.90 after surging past a competitor in the final 900 meters.
“To bring another Ivy League Heps title back to Princeton is an incredible feeling,” Shorten told the ‘Prince.’ “All season, our main objectives have been to win Heps and perform our best at the NCAA Championship at the end of November. Checking off one of those boxes feels great and validates all of our hard work up until this point.”
Sophomore Jacob Nenow and junior Brian Boler worked together through the race to place seventh and eighth in 24:33.80 and 24:34.10, respectively. First-year Hayden Boaz rounded out the Tigers’ scoring five with a determined kick, passing two runners in the final stretch to place 11th in 24:48.70.
Princeton’s depth was on full display, with sophomore Steven Hergenrother and junior Sebastian Martinez finishing 12th and 13th in 24:48.70 and 24:49.00, serving as displacers — runners who do not score for their team but prevent other runners from recording lower scores.
During and after the meet, the Tigers celebrated both another Ivy League crown and the program’s long tradition of excellence. Among those in attendance was Tom Hartshorne ’76, who helped lead Princeton to its first Heps title 50 years ago. Hartshorne joined the team to celebrate the milestone and reflect on the program’s legacy.
Shorten, by now one of the team’s veterans, has now won four Ivy League team titles in four years — each with a different roster.
“I view this season, my senior season, as a culmination of everything I’ve learned from those previous teams,” Shorten told the ‘Prince.’ “After graduating, I hope to leave the underclassmen with some wisdom they’ll carry forward, just as those before me did for me.”
With their fifth-straight Ivy League crown secured, the Tigers now turn their attention towards NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regionals in Bethlehem, Pa., on Nov. 14.
Chloe Lydia Li is a staff Sports writer for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com
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