Princeton University Athletics
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Men's Track & Field In the Driver's Seat After Day 1 of Heps
February 26, 2011 | Men's Track and Field
NEW YORK (2/26/11) - The Princeton men's track & field team is in first place after day one of the 2011 Ivy League Heptagonal Championship. The Tigers claimed victories in the weight throw, pole vault and 3000-meter run.
The Tigers have a 36-point lead over Cornell 59-23. Harvard is in third place with 17 points, followed Dartmouth with 16, Penn with six and Columbia with three. Brown and Yale have zero points.
Junior David Slovenski set an Ivy League and a Heptagonal record as he won his third straight pole vault title. He reached 5.28 (17-3.75) besting his previous best and the previous Heps record of 5.27 he set in 2009. Classmate Derek Hynes was second clearing 5.00 (16-4.75).
Senior Craig Pearce defended his weight throw title, winning his second straight indoor championship. Pearce threw the weight to 19.81 (65-0) reaching the mark on his final throw of the day.
Junior Donn Cabral picked up Princeton's third win of the day in the only running final of the afternoon, the 3000. Cabral crossed the line at 8:04.49, more than two seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Freshman Chris Bendtsen was fourth in his first Heps at 8:09.25 and junior Brian Leung was sixth at 8:10.08. In all, the trio gave Princeton 15 points in the event.
Princeton grabbed 16 points in the long jump. Senior Dion Lehman finished in second place with a mark of 7.22 (23-8.25), getting it on his second jump of the afternoon. Freshman Damon McLean jumped to 7.10 (23-3.50) to take third and classmate Tom Hopkins was fifth with a jump of 7.07(23-2.50).
Three Tigers qualified for the mile final. Seniors Mark Amirault and Kyle Soloff had the second and third fastest times in the preliminaries, at 4:08.47 and 4:15.38, respectively. Junior Joe Stilin also made the top 10 at 4:11.57. The final will be run at 12:10 p.m., tomorrow.
All three Princeton hurdlers qualified for the finals. Freshman Richard Sheldon had the best time in the prelims at 8.15. Hopkins ran 8.37 and senior Adam Thayer 8.42. The hurdles final will follow the mile at 12:30 p.m.
Junior Kashif Smith will be one of the final eight running the 60-meter dash final tomorrow, as he qualified with a time of 6.97. The final will be at 1:15 p.m.
Junior Austin Hollimon and Hopkins will run in the finals of the 400 tomorrow. Hollimon had the fastest time in the prelims at 49.96 and Hopkins was fourth at 48.67. The 400 final will be at 12:50 p.m. In all Hopkins qualified for three individual finals.
Senior Mike Eddy had the fastest time in the 500 at 1:03.10 and will race in the final tomorrow.
Also placing the fastest qualifying time was sophomore Russell Dinkins in the 800. He ran 1:50.75. Senior Jordan Sawadogo ran 1:52.39, the fifth fastest to qualify for the final that takes place at 1:30 p.m.
Junior Trevor Van Ackeren and sophomore Peter Callahan had the top two times in the 1000, at 2:25.67 and 2:25.77, respectively. The final will be 1:40 p.m.
Princeton leads the Ancient Eight in the number competing in the finals tomorrow with 32. Cornell is next with 26, followed by Columbia's 18. Penn has 16, Brown 15, Dartmouth 13, Harvard 11 and Yale with 10.
The Tigers' day begins tomorrow at 11 a.m., with the men's heptathlon.