Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
New Year Invitational
Players Mentioned
Tigers Open 2007 Indoor Track Season At New Year Invitational
December 08, 2007 | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field
The Princeton track teams had strong performances at the season-opening New Year Invitational Saturday at Jadwin Gym, with sprinter Shafiq Kashmiri leading the way on the men's side and some Tiger newcomers contributing to a solid effort on the women's side.
Kashmiri won both the 60 meters and 300 meters for Princeton on Saturday, and he was joined by teammate Andrew Usoro in 1-2 finishes in both the preliminaries and finals. The Princeton junior ran a 6.99 in the qualifying and then an impressive 6.95 in the final to win the 60 meters. He was even more impressive in the 300, as his time of 34.41 seconds was nearly a second better than the second-best time.
The newcomers on the women's side included sprinters Lauren Barber and Bianca Mathabane, who finished 1-2 in the finals of the 60-meter hurdles on Saturday. Fellow newcomer Bianca Williams was the winner of the triple jump with a solid leap of 39 feet, 8 inches, well ahead of the second-best mark.
Veterans also had a big day for the Tigers on both the men's and women's side. Four-time Heps champion and junior Alex Pessala got his indoor season off to a strong start with a winning weight throw toss of 59 feet, 6 3/4 inches, while teammate Craig Pearce was right behind in 59-4. Senior Nathan Crumpton's long jump of 23 feet, 1/2 inch tied with former Tiger Dwaine Banton for top mark Saturday, while Heps and IC4A champ Justin Frick took the high jump with another clearance of seven feet (7' 1/4). Teammate Ian Fox was second with a jump of 6-10 3/4.
Heps champion Agatha Offorjebe was a strong winner of the 300 meters on the women's side. Her time of 40.45 seconds was nearly a second better than the next-best finisher. In the middle distance events, Liz Bergold and Karen Aherne finished 1-2 in the 1,000 meters as the only runners to complete the five laps in less than three minutes.
On the men's side, newcomer Garner McCloud also had a strong debut in a Princeton uniform, leaping an impressive 47 feet, 9 3/4 inches to easily take the triple jump event. Another Tiger women's newcomer, Isabell Von Loga, had an impressive debut herself with a shot put mark of 49 feet, 10 1/2 inches, more than five feet better than the second-best mark on the day.
Princeton also won the long jump on the women's side thanks to veteran Marta Pardo, who jumped 17 feet, 11 inches. On the men's side, the Tigers' "A" relay team of Duane Hynes, Kashmiri, Collin Plummer and Bryan Blount finshed a close second in the 4X400 relay, finishing the eight laps in a time of 3:23.62.
Complete New Year Invitational results are available at the above link.