Princeton University Athletics
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Tiger Athletes Have Standout Performances at Finish Line USA Junior Outdoor Championships
July 03, 2006 | Men's Track and Field
INDIANAPOLIS - It was a terrific week for Princeton men's track, both present and past, when Tiger athletes competed at the 2006 USA Track & Field Championships June 21-25 at IUPUI's Carroll Stadium.
In the Finish Line Junior Championships, two current Tiger standouts, decathlete Duane Hynes '09 and hammer thrower Alex Pessala '09, each finished third in their respective events. The top two in each event qualified for the Junior World Championships in China later this year.
Hynes' 7108 points in the decathlon was one of the best marks in the history of the USA Junior championship competition. He had a strong second day of the competition, finishing second in the pole vault to jump ahead of Wake Forest's Brent LaRue into third place. Hynes was the second collegiate finisher after second-place Mat Clark of Northern Iowa.
On Friday, Pessala saved his best throw for his fifth out of six attempts, tossing the hammer 198 feet, 10 inches (60.60 meters) for a third-place finish. He was the top collegiate thrower at the event, and his best throw was just one foot short of the second-best toss by John Freeman.
Two other rising Princeton sophomores, Brett Campfield and Bryan Sharkey, competed in the junior 3,000-meter steeplechase final. Campfield was sixth in 9:26.84, while Sharkey was right behind in seventh in 9:28.55.
Nationally, in the AT&T USA Outdoor Championships, Princeton alum and former NCAA champion Tora Harris '02 made waves in the high jump with the best jump in the world in 2006. Harris, now competing for the Shore Athletic Club, leaped a personal-best 7 feet, 7 3/4 inches (2.33 meters), clearing the 2.33 mark on the last of his three attempts.
Another Princeton alumnus, Michael Spence '00, was a competitor in the 3,000-meter steeplechase on Sunday. Spence, now running for New Balance, finished seventh in a time of 8:35.99.