Women’s indoor track and field team earns back-to-back Ivy League Championship titles

Last weekend, Princeton women’s indoor track and field defended their Ivy League championship title at the Armory in New York City. A meet demanding mental, in addition to physical, preparation, the two-day Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Track and Field competition (Heps) marked the most important meet of the season, and took place just ahead of midterms week.

The Tigers were dominant across the board. After leading the competition the first day, with three individual titles out of the five events scored, Princeton secured the win on Sunday, earning points in 19 of the 20 total events.

“It was important that, going into the meet, the women understood that no one needed to be heroic or supernatural for our team to be successful,” associate head coach Reuben Jones wrote to The Daily Princetonian following the meet.

“Most of the focus the week of the meet was on being consistent with previous patterns and habits from the regular season and trusting that this is what will lead to championship performances,” he continued.

Distance Domination

Junior middle-distance runner Hannah Riggins clinched first place in both the preliminary and final rounds of the 1000m with a finals time of 2:45.74. Riggins is now the back-to-back champion in this event, and was awarded Ivy First Team and Academic All-Ivy recognition following the meet.

Junior distance runner Anna McNatt claimed victory in the 3000m, beating the meet record by over five seconds. McNatt ran an impressive final lap, with a split of 31.260, and improved her own personal best by almost three seconds.

The next day, McNatt also became champion in the 5000m, besting second place by almost nine seconds. Winning both of her events, McNatt contributed 20 points to the team’s score. McNatt was also awarded Ivy First Team recognition following the meet.

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Sprinting Success

Senior sprinter Maisha Atkinson continues to break school records. After breaking the 500m school record with a time of 1:11.32 in the preliminary round, Atkinson won the championship title the next day, breaking that freshly set record with an incredible time of 1:09.96. During Heps, Atkinson also broke the 200m record for a second time this season, posting a time of 23.75 seconds in the prelims. She currently holds the school records for the 200m, 300m, 400m, and 500m, and was also named Ivy First Team for the season.

Field Focused

After two initial fouls, junior thrower Angela McAuslan-Kelly achieved a distance of 19.77m in the weight throw. With this mark, McAuslan-Kelly won the Ivy League champion title for her second consecutive year. McAuslan-Kelly has also been recognized for Ivy First Team.

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Sophomore jumper Alysa Carrigan became the high jump Ivy League champion clearing a height of 1.77m and was named Ivy First Team for the season as well.

Relay Roundup

All of Princeton’s relay teams placed top three at Heps scoring 26 points total for the team. The 4000m distance Medley Relay secured third place with a time of 11:24.03, less than six seconds behind the event champions, Cornell University.

Princeton’s 4x800m relay team, composed of senior middle-distance runner Madeline Cramer, first-year middle-distance runner Nelly Floutakou, junior distance runner Olivia Martin, and Riggins, achieved an Ivy League and meet record, finishing in 8:35.80 and securing the championship title.

The 4x400m team, consisting of first-year hurdler and sprinter Laila Payne, first-year hurdler and jumper Elizabeth Yeboah-Kodie, first-year sprinter Delia Gregory, and Atkinson, also emerged champions. The majority first-year team has been breaking records all season, and Ivy Heps was no exception. The relay team achieved a new program record with a final time of 3:39.12.

These standout performances are representative of Princeton’s success across the entire meet.

The team’s overall success led to an impressive 188.5 points total — 20.5 points more than the second place University of Pennsylvania. With that result, Princeton successfully defended their championship indoor title.

“Back-to-back Ivy League champions speaks to our team’s diversity, leadership, and character,” Jones wrote to the ‘Prince.’ “Coaching these young women has been most fun because of their commitment to their sport and one another.”

Two Tigers will now travel to Fayetteville, Ark. to compete in the NCAA Indoor Championship on March 13 and 14: senior jumper Georgie Scoot in the triple jump and senior jumper Alex Kelly in the long jump. This will be both seniors’ first indoor NCAA appearance.

Scoot achieved her third straight Ivy League champion title in the triple jump at Heps with a final mark of 13.23m. Kelly hit a meet record of 6.49m and became back-to-back Ivy League long jump champion this past weekend. Both were recognized with Ivy First Team awards for the season.

“We’re going to attempt to score some points at the NCAA Championships,” Jones wrote to the ‘Prince.’ Scoot and Kelly are seeded at 10th and 14th, respectively.

Following Heps, the outdoor season is just around the corner.

“We are looking forward to adding the outdoor events such as javelin, hammer, discus, 3000m steeplechase, and 400m hurdles to our team,” wrote Jones.

The 2026 Princeton outdoor squad will debut March 21 at the Penn Challenge.

Siena Sydenham is a Sports contributor for the ‘Prince.’

Please send any corrections to sports[at]dailyprincetonian.com.

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