Princeton Seeks Fifth Straight Indoor Heps Title This Weekend

Saturday, February 23

Boston, Mass.

Princeton University

Ivy Heps

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Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

Princeton Seeks Fifth Straight Indoor Heps Title This Weekend

February 22, 2019 | Men's Track and Field

PRINCETON, N.J. – The Princeton Men's Track and Field team will look for its fifth straight Ivy League Indoor heptagonal championship this weekend.

Tickets
Schedule
Day 1 – ESPN+
Day 2 – ESPN+

Sprints and Hurdles
Princeton had four of the top 11 times in the 60m among Ivy foes in the winter, highlighted by Simang'aliso Ndhlovu (6.82). Other top runners include Daniel Afolabi (6.90), Greg Sholars (6.91) and Justice Dixon (6.93).

The Tigers seek great success in the 60m hurdles with, again, four of the top 11 scores in the conference. Joey Daniels (7.81) with the top mark in program history paces the field with Christian Brown (7.90), Taraje Whitfield (8.17) and Sebastian Silveira (8.24). Brown's time is second in Princeton history while Whitfield is tied for 10th. Daniels won the indoor title last season and scored in 2017.

Sholars secured top time for the Tigers in 200m during the winter campaign with his 21.63 at the Valentine Invite (Feb. 8). It's also tied for the fourth quickest by a Princeton runner ever.

Princeton has multiple competitors sitting in the top 10 in the 400m with Connor Matthews (48.39) third after his HYP run. Michael Phillippy (48.87) and Justice Dixon (49.03) are also amid the best.

Middle Distance and Distance
Kieran McDermott had the best time for the Tigers in the 500m (1:04.58), good for ninth in the Ivies. Cole Bransford (1:05.11), Michael Phillippy (1:05.26) and Sam Ellis (1:05.30) all had times in the top 15.

Ellis, who earned points for the Tigers at last winter's Heps in the 800m, stands eighth in the conference this season (1:52.12). McDermott (1:53.09) and Franklin Aririguzoh (1:53.15) are in the top 15 as well. Ellis contributed the lowest mile (4:02.93) mark for the Tigers at the Valentine Invite earlier this month. Eli Krahn (4:07.08) had the eighth speediest mile run for Princeton among Ivy competitors. Perrin Hagge had a personal-best (4:09.62) this campaign and inside the top 15.

Scott Thompson was right outside the top five in the 1000m, dropping in a 2:26.24 to secure the best mark for Princeton. Conor Lundy (2:26.29) and Ellis (2:26.87) were right behind him.

Princeton sports three of the top 10 and five of the 15 best times in the 3,000m in the Ancient Eight led by Viraj Deokar (8:11.08). Ed Trippas (8:11.17) is not far off while Jeremy Spiezio posted an 8:17.04. Matt Grossman (8:19.19) and Jakob Kintzele (8:20.06) at the HYP in January also had marks among the best. Deokar contributed points in the last season's winter Heps in the 5,000m, while Lundy just missed.

Jumps
Jeffrey Hollis had the second-best high jump (2.15m) in the league while Andrew Diehl (2.09m) and Jeffrey Lee-Heidenreich (2.08m) are fourth and sixth. Hollis' jump is fifth furthest in program history. He was also the 2018 Ivy Indoor High Jump champion. Diehl earned a point at last year's indoor heps.

Will Drury earned the ninth best Ivy pole vault (4.90m) while Noah Hurley was 11th (4.80m). Hurley was seventh at last year's event.

Princeton has some of the best long jumpers among Ivy competitors with Avriam Shwarzbard (7.53m) nabbing the top jump and the eighth (tied) best in Princeton history. Jesse Thibodeau was third (7.31m), Gilron Tsabkevich (7.20m) fifth and Austin Princewill (7.11m) tied for sixth. Thibodeau (second) and Tsabkevich (third) combined for 14 points in 2018.

Dayo Abeeb's 15.29m in the triple jump cleared the competition at the Harvard Invite (Feb. 1) and the rest of the Ancient Eight in the winter campaign. Princewill earned a tie for third (15.23m) while Stefan Amokwandoh was fifth (15.11m). Amokwandoh registered points at Heps for the Tigers last season and was the runner-up in 2017. His career mark (15.58) is fifth all-time while Abeeb is eighth.

Throws
C.J. Licata (18.08m) and Kelton Chastulik (17.36m) were the only two in the league to throw a shot put over 17m. Licata's personal best is seventh on the indoor list. Chastulik finished third at Heps last winter.

Adam Kelly has never finished lower than second in the weight throw, highlighted by his title in 2018. His 22.67m throw at the 2017 Heps is the second-best score for a Princeton athlete while his 22.53 this winter is the top throw in the Ivy League. In fact, that throw at the Millrose Games toppled an U.S. Olympian.

Multis
Harry Lord dropped in the third highest heptathlon total (4,694) in the conference this winter at the Navy Invite in January. He was third in the decathlon in the spring of 2017 while Dixon scored points in the heptathlon and decathlon in 2017.

Relays
The Tigers' 4x400 group of Sholars, Dixon, Phillippy and Matthews '20 ran to the 10th speediest mark ever (3:14.13) at the Valentine Invite, second best in the Ivies. Dixon and Matthews were part of the 4x400 quadrant that secured points last year. Princeton's best 4x800 time this season was at the HYP (7:53.03) with Cole Sandvold, Arirguzoh, Hagge and McDermott. Hagge was a member of the 4x800 group that picked up a point in 2018. The DMR squad posted a 10:11.04 at the Navy Invite, sporting the third quickest mark in the Ivy League in the winter.