Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Men In Close Second After First Day of Heps At Weaver Stadium
May 05, 2007 | Men's Track and Field
Princeton's depth in the field events and a win for the second straight year in the hammer throw by standout sophomore Alex Pessala has left the Tigers a close second after the first day of the 2007 Ivy League Heptagonal Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Weaver Stadium.
The Tigers, who have 48 points after Day 1 and six completed events, had at least two scorers in three field events Saturday, led by Pessala's win in the hammer. His winning throw Saturday was 192 feet, two inches, giving him Heptagonal wins in each of his first two seasons at Princeton in both the indoor 20-lb. weight throw and the outdoor hammer throw.
It was also quite a day for Pessala's classmate, Duane Hynes, who not only took the lead in the decathlon after Day 1 but also jumped more than 24 feet in the long jump competition to earn second place and eight points for Princeton. Hynes, who had jumped more than 23 feet in the long jump as part of the decathlon earlier in the day, took the lead with an impressive 6-7 high jump and has 3843 points after the first day and a lead of 41 points.
There were two other second-place finishers for Princeton in the field events, with Eric Plummer's toss of 54 feet, 5 1/2 inches good for second in the shot put and Andrew Park's clearance of 16 feet, 6 3/4 inches in the pole vault also a second-place mark. Princeton earned an impressive 14 points in the pole vault as Will Byrd's 15-11 was fourth and Chad Faulkner's 15-7 clearance was fifth.
Princeton also earned additional points in the long jump, where Nathan Crumpton's mark of 23 5 1/2 was fourth, and in the hammer, where Matt McNamara's toss of 180 feet, four inches as also good for fourth.
On Sunday, the Tigers will have finalists in six of the seven running events that had preliminary qualifying races today and will have more than one competitor in five of those six races.
Shafiq Kashmiri qualified Saturday for both the 100 and 200 meter finals, running a 10.77 in the 100 and the second-best time of the day, a 21.75, in the 200 meters. He will be joined by teammates Ray Simnick in the 100 and Andrew Usuro in the 200 finals on Sunday.
Distance standout David Nightingale ran a 3:49.15 in the 1,500 qualifier Saturday to win his heat, and he will attempt to win both the 1,500 and 5,000 meter races on Sunday. James O'Toole also earned the final qualifying spot in Sunday's 1,500 final.
Rich Stewart's 47.72 was the second fastest in the 400 meters on Saturday and qualified him for Sunday's final, where he will be joined by fellow senior Brian Shields in a strong field. Hurdlers Chris Vasich, in the 110 high hurdles, and Tom Zozokos and Ian Thomson, in the 400 intermediate hurdles, will also participate in finals on Sunday.
Cornell leads the overall team standings with 55 points after the first day. Brown is well behind second-place Princeton in third with 26 points. For complete race results, log onto the official meet website.
Princeton is attempting to win the Heps "triple crown" after winning the cross country championships in October and the indoor championship in February. The Tigers won three straight Heps "triple crowns" from 1997-98 through 1999-2000.