Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Heptagonal Championships
Players Mentioned
Tiger Women Take First Heps Title Since 1998
March 02, 2008 | Women's Track and Field
The Princeton women's track team bolted ahead late in the meet by winning the two-mile relay and got several huge performances from freshmen, including a big triple jump from Tiffany Liu, on the way to an exciting victory at the 2008 Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Track & Field Championships at Cornell's Barton Hall.
The title was Princeton's first at the meet since 1998. Princeton finished with 114 points to 107 for second-place Brown, gaining that advantage for good after that 4X800 relay and holding onto it at the end thanks to a second-place jump from Liu in the final event that finished. The Tigers are now two-thirds of the way to a Heps "triple crown" after winning a second-straight cross country title in October.
A trio of seniors led the way for the Tigers in the 4X8, with Heather Iatauro, Liz Bergold and Karen Aherne setting the pace and sophomore standout Liz Costello anchoring the way home in 8:55.18, more than three seconds better than second-place Cornell in the event.
The Tigers were ahead by six points with the triple jump still ongoing, and Liu would jump 39 feet, 7 inches for Princeton for second place and eight points, more than enough to offset Brown's seven points in the event and ensuring the Tigers their first title in 10 seasons.
But she was far from the only freshman that helped Princeton end host Cornell's six-year string of indoor Heps championships.
There were high hopes for shot putter Isabell Von Loga heading into the year, and she certainly didn't disappoint with a meet-record toss on Sunday. Her winning throw of 51 feet, five inches bested the previous meet mark set by Brown's Amber Knighten in 2000 and was also a Barton Hall record. For good measure, another Tiger freshman, Thanithia Billings, tossed 46 feet, 3 1/4 inches to finish third and give Princeton an important 16 points in the event.
Another freshman, Lauren Barber, proved to be the Ivies best hurdler by taking the 60-meter event on Sunday. After running the top qualifying time of 8.77 seconds in the preliminaries, she bettered that mark to a fast 8.69 seconds in the final to earn her first Heps title.
Freshmen even got into the mix in the second-to-last event to finish, the 4X400 relay, when the Tigers earned an important four points with a fourth-place finish as Brown didn't score in the event. Katherine Sirico and Libby Bliss were the middle legs of the mile, with junior Agatha Offorjebe, also a scorer in both the 200 and 400 meters Sunday, bringing it home for Princeton.
Earlier in the day, Costello, the 2007 Heps cross country champion, earned another Heps title by taking the mile in an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 4:47.43. She was one of three Tigers to finish in the top six in the event, with Iatauro beginning a stellar day with a third-place finish and freshman Ashley Higginson taking sixth.
Sarah Cummings, who had won the 5,000 meters on Saturday, finished third in the 3,000 meters on Sunday. Costello also ran the 800 on a busy day, scoring with a sixth-place time in the final.
Princeton, which was in second place after the first day, Brown and Cornell were in a tight race throughout much of the early part of the day before the Tigers and Bears began to pull away at the end. Cornell ended the meet with 100 points, as the top three were far ahead of, in order, Harvard, Penn, Columbia, Yale and Dartmouth.
The Tigers also got scoring performances from Liz Stevens in the high jump (5' 4 1/2") and Jolee VanLeuven in the 3,000. On Saturday, Princeton had gotten a second-place performance in the pole vault from Jess Kloss.
Princeton's indoor Heps title was its seventh in the 28-year history of the event. The Tigers won each of the first three meets (1981-83), the 1989 meet and back-to-back indoor titles in 1997 and 1998.