Princeton Wins 19th Ivy League Heps Title

Friday, October 27

Van Cortlandt Park

12:00 PM

Princeton University

Ivy Heps

Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

October 27, 2017 | Men's Cross Country

Results

BRONX (10/27/17) - Princeton won its 19th Ivy League Cross Country Heptagonal title this afternoon, with all five scorers finishing in the top 10. Its score of 28 is the lowest score at Ivy Heps since the 1987 season.

It was a sea of orange coming down the final straight as senior Noah Kauppila led off a 2-3-4 finish. Kauppila clocked a 24:58.7 and has been the top Tiger across the line in all three of his races this season. This was his fourth time competing at the Ivy Heps and best finish. This is his fifth time being named all-Ivy League, and first in cross country. He moved from the fifth position up to No. 2 in the final kilometer.

Sophomore Conor Lundy followed at 24:59.1 to finish in third place for the second consecutive season. Last year he qualified as an individual for the NCAA Cross Country Championships, and looks to make an appearance with his team this year. Lundy was in fourth place at the 5k mark and moved into the lead at 7.1k.

In fourth place was senior Garrett O'Toole. O'Toole has been a consistent scorer for the Tigers all season but this was by far his best run today, as he put up a time of 25:03.2. O'Toole was never out of the top 10 and was in seventh place at the 7.1k mark.

Princeton! For the win! pic.twitter.com/FSDmhjwa7i
— Princeton Track/XC (@PrincetonTrack) October 27, 2017

Sophomores Gannon Wilcutts and Viraj Deokar pushed the Tigers over the edge and solidified the win by finishing ninth and 10th overall at 25:18.0 and 25:18.5. Columbia had a strong first four at 1-5-7-8, but Princeton's depth beat the Lions this afternoon.

"Today represented more than a win or a trophy," head coach Jason Vigilante said. "Today was about a team of young men representing Princeton, the greater track and field team and putting themselves in a position to risk it. We were not favored to win yet the guys ran to be champions. I'm so proud to be their coach and see them transform their hard work into success. This is just the beginning."

Columbia finished second with 43 points, followed by Penn with 91 and Cornell with 131. Those teams were followed by Dartmouth, Yale, Brown and Harvard in last place.

Princeton's sixth runner across the line was remarkably 13th overall as senior Rob Stone ran 25:24.1 Seniors Wolfgang Beck and William Paulson followed in 17th and 18th.

Princeton Scorers
2. Noah Kauppila 24:58.7
3. Conor Lundy 24:59.1
4. Garrett O'Toole 25:03.2
9. Gannon Willcutts 25:18.0
10. Viraj Deokar 25:18.5
17. Wolfgang Beck 25:32.2
18. William Paulson 25:34.0
34. Perrin Hagge 25:56.8
39. Matt Grossman 26:04.3
65. Kevin Berry 26:40.2
66. Ed Trippas 26:40.5