Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Heptagonal Championships
Players Mentioned
Women's Track Finishes Close Second At Ivy League Heptagonals
May 11, 2008 | Women's Track and Field
The Princeton women's track team was unable to hold off a second-day charge by Cornell but still concluded an outstanding 2007-08 Heps run with a close second-place finish Sunday at the 2008 Ivy League Heptagonal Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Yale's Dwyer Track and Cuyler Field.
The Tigers, who had won the league cross country title in October and the indoor championship in March, scored 141 points for the meet and had two more individual champions Sunday to add to the three Princeton winners on the meet's first day.
Princeton's first championship of the day came in the 5,000 meters in the morning. Freshman Ashley Higginson ran an NCAA regional standard of 16:39.35 to win the race, and she was joined by classmate Sarah Cummings in third (16:42.42) and junior Jolee VanLeuven in fourth (16:43.94) as the Tigers scored 20 of the available 31 points in the race.
Less than an hour later, Princeton's dynamic steeplechase duo proved its mettle by taking the top two spots in that 3,000-meter race. Junior Megan Brandeland won the race in 10:40.57, while another freshman, Liz Deir, was right with her in second place in 10:45.41.
It was a busy day for the Princeton distance runners as both Higginson and Liz Costello came back to run the 3,000 meters late in the meet after running other races earlier in the day. Costello finished third in the 1,500 in a regional standard of 4:25.64, then scored for Princeton in the 3,000 with a sixth-place time of 9:56.27. After winning the 5,000, Higginson had another strong race in the 3,000, running 9:49.59 for a fifth-place finish.
Among those who qualified for Sunday finals with Saturday preliminary runs, freshman Lauren Barber had the highest finish for Princeton with a 2nd place time of 14.13 in the 100-meter hurdles. Her classmate Bianca Mathabane also scored in that event, finishing sixth in 14.74. In the 400, the Tigers also had two scorers as Agatha Offorjebe (56.39) was third and Leanne Bellar (56.95) was sixth.
In the field events, Princeton got a big clearance of 5' 4 1/2" by Johanna Valdez for a third-place mark in the high jump. Freshman Tiffany Liu finished in fourth place in the triple jump Sunday with a best mark of 39' 1/2".
The Tigers' top relay on Sunday was its two-mile group (4X800), which finished fifth in its race in ECAC qualifying time. The group of Liz Bergold, Heather Iatauro, Libby Bliss and Karen Aherne ran the eight laps in 9:05.58.
Cornell had 165 points to win the meet, while the Tigers' 141 was well ahead of third-place Brown's 89.