Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Ivy Heps
Tactical Training has Tigers Primed for #IvyHeps
October 25, 2017 | Men's Cross Country
PRINCETON, N.J. (10/25/17) - Princeton has been training for Ivy Heps all season, putting its A team on the course for the first team last weekend. The result was outstanding and the Tigers are now being recognized in the national poll. The 8k race is scheduled for noon on Friday, Oct. 27 at Van Cortlandt Park.
The Tigers were thisclose to winning the title last year, instead finishing in second place to Penn, going 2-3-6-14-26. It's a moment that has haunted the team since last October as the program missed out on a triple crown after winning both indoor and outdoor track titles. Princeton has won more Ivy Heps titles than any other team in the league, 18 times. In the last decade alone, the Tigers have won six of the 10 titles.
Princeton returns four of its five scorers from last season, and based on last week's run at the Princeton Invitational they are peaking at the right time.
Senior Noah Kauppila is looking to make a big impression on Friday. He was the top finisher at both the Greater Louisville Classic and the Princeton Invitational. He has experience in this race, competing ever since his freshman year. Last year he captured all-region honors with a top-25 finish at the Mid-Atlantic Regional. In the past Kauppila has made his mark at Ivy League Heps - across all three seasons - scoring 12 times with an individual win in the indoor 1000 while qualifying for the NCAA Regional in the 1500 the last two years.
Sophomore Conor Lundy had a spectacular freshman campaign. He was third overall at Heps, the top freshman finisher at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic regional and qualified for the NCAA Championships. In Terre Haute he had the best finish by a Tiger since 2013, and it was just his second official time running a 10k. Lundy was neck-and-neck with Kauppila last weekend finishing fourth, while a year ago at Ivy Heps he was neck-and-neck with William Paulson finishing third overall.
Paulson finished second at Heps a year ago and will be pushing for the individual title this year as he was just three seconds off the win last year. He ran his first race of the season last week, finishing in 12th place. A six-time scorer at Ivy League Heps, Paulson reached the NCAA Championship race in the 1500 last spring. Paulson has a proven record of meeting or surpassing expectations when it matters.
Seniors Garrett O'Toole and Rob Stone have been scorers consistently all season and should score this Friday as well. O'Toole was the second Tiger across the line at the Greater Louisville Classic, was the third Tiger and 11th overall last week at Princeton. He's qualified for the NCAA Regional in the 1500 twice and is an eight-time Heps scorer. This will be O'Toole second Ivy Heps in cross country - he placed 56th a year ago. Stone has been a surprise this season. He was the third Tiger in Louisville and was the final scorer last week in Princeton. This will be his second time competing at the Ivy Heps.
Don't count out sophomore Viraj Deokar. He was a scorer last year, taking 14th overall earning second-team All-Ivy League scorers and then followed up with an 18th-place performace at the Mid-Atlantic regional. Deokar was one of the surprise scorers at Outdoor Heps that helped the Tigers defeat Cornell, as the put up points in the 10k, the only time he ran that event in the spring.
For more information on the league meet, visit the Ivy League Web site.
Players Mentioned
