Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Disney Invitational
Players Mentioned
Outdoor Season Begins for Men's Track & Field
March 22, 2010 | Men's Track and Field
NTC Results
ORLANDO (3/21/10) - The Princeton men's track and field team began the 2010 outdoor season in Florida during spring break. The squad competed at the Walt Disney World Invitational and at the National Training Center Throws and Jumps Challenge in central Florida.
At the Disney Invitational, junior George Abyad had the best throw in the discus, reaching 47.94 meters. Teammate sophomore Patrick Park was second with a throw of 44.32 meters. The remaining 10 contestants were far behind clearing only as far as 41 meters.
Although Princeton graduated three-time Ivy League hammer throw champion Alex Pessala, it looks like they have found someone to fill his enormous shoes. Freshman Conor McCullough won the hammer throw in his first attempt reaching 65.79 meters. Junior Craig Pearce was second in the event throwing to 55.20 meters.
On the track, Princeton's relay team of Kashif Smith, Sebastian Steffen, Ivan Charbonneau and Austin Hollimon captured first place in the 4x100 with a blistering time of 42.49.
Steffen was second in the 200 meters with a time of 22.34 and junior Mike Eddy took second in the 400 at 46.82. Senior Tom Zozokos placed third in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 54.55.
McCullough earned his second hammer throw title of the week at the NTC Meet throwing the 6k hammer to 71.64 meters. Pearce followed in second place clearing 54.14 meters.
Abyad also picked up his second first-place finish winning the discus with a toss of 50.50 meters. McCullough also competed in the event and was third at 44.78 meters.
Princeton was the only team competing in the pole vault with three athletes. Sophomores David Slovenski and DerekHynes both cleared 4.57 meters, while senior Duane Hynes was third at 4.11 meters.
In addition, senior Ian Fox won the high jump clearing 1.95 meters.
This year's outdoor track and field season will be run a bit differently than in years past, in terms of qualifying for the post season.
The four-region system from the past seven years is no longer in place. This season there will be two "preliminary sites" for the national championship. Instead of focusing on a hard-line performance standard like in years past, there will be a field-size cut-off per event. The season will be a constant "scoreboard watch" as the top 48 in each region (west and east) will compete in the preliminary sites. Relays will be the top 24 per region.