From Start to Finish, Tigers Come Up Big on Day 1 of Ivy Heps

Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

From Start to Finish, Tigers Come Up Big on Day 1 of Ivy Heps

May 04, 2019 | Men's Track and Field

Results

Team scores after five events: Princeton 51, Harvard 34, Penn 26, Brown 20, Columbia 15, Cornell 8, Dartmouth 1, Yale 0

Qualifiers headed into tomorrow: Princeton 13, Dartmouth 10, Penn 9, Harvard 8, Columbia 6, Yale 6, Cornell 5, Brown 3

Princeton has 17-point lead over the rest of the Ivy League after Day 1 of the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships.

The Tigers finished off the night with an exclamation point in the 10k, going 2-4-5 to pick up 14 points and held Penn off the score sheet and now holds a 25-point advantage over the Quakers after five events.

Junior Conor Lundy was second in a wild finish to the 10k with a 32:06.93, junior Viraj Deokar was fourth at 32:11.73 and junior Matt Grossman was fifth at 32:14.88. Grossman was the leader of the for most of the race, the first 6800 meters to be exact and never fell back out of the top five. Deokar was in 16th place at 6800 meters and started to make his move with 2000 meters left. In two laps he moved from 15th to seventh and with 2 laps remaining pushed further up into sixth. He gained two more places over the final 800 meters to take fourth.

Like Deokar, Lundy waited until about 6400 meters to give the announcers something to talk about. He went from 20th place into fifth on the 17th lap with a 1:13.06. In third place at the bell, he pushed ahead of Harvard's Kiernan Tuntivate as the pair started to gain ground on Columbia's Brian Zabilski, as it appeared he might have gone too soon. Lundy gained on him at the finish but Zabilski hung on 32:06.67 to 32:06.93.

Princeton has the most qualifiers headed into tomorrow with 13. Penn, who is challenging for the title, has nine though the Tigers could have the edge. There are two events that Princeton has three finalists in and Penn has zero – the 100 and 400 hurdles. The four events Penn does have finalists in, Princeton does all well – meaning those points could be split.

Senior Adam Kelly repeated as the Ivy League champion in the hammer to start Day 1. In his career Kelly has either been the champion or the runner-up all four years in the event – totaling 36 points. Today he had a mark of 71.15 (233-5) on his fourth attempt for the win. An All-American in the event, Kelly ranks eighth in the nation this year in the hammer throw.

Princeton had a 1-2 finish in the long jump with junior Jesse Thibodeau winning and freshman Aviram Shwarzbard taking second. The two took the early lead in the first three attempts of flight two. Thibodeau reached 7.64 (25-0.75) on his third attempt while also having jumps of 7.52, 7.48, 7.47 and 7.43. This is his first Ivy Heps victory. Indoors he has finished second, third and sixth with this being his first time scoring Outdoors and did so with 10 points. The junior currently ranks 13th in the nation in the long jump with a 7.87 (25-10). After a 7.24 on his first attempt, Shwabard took over the lead with a 7.44 (24-5) on his second jump. He has now scored in both Ivy Heps long jumps after a fourth-place finish Indoors.

Freshman Will Drury added a point to the team total with a sixth-place finish in the pole vault. Drury cleared 4.95 (16-2.75) on his second attempt to match his personal best in his first Ivy Heps.

In the final field event of the day, sophomore Robbie Otal took second place in the discus his second time earning runner-up honors. Otal launched a 50.74 (166-6) on his second attempt to earn his team eight points. He also had throws of 49.80, 49.59, 49.21 and 48.68.

After Day 1 of the decathlon freshman Andrei Iosivas and junior Harry Lord are fourth and fifth. Iosivas has 3,678 points after winning the 100 (10.80) and taking third in both the long jump (6.90) and 400 (50.52). He as fifth in the shot put (12.26) and sixth in the high jump (1.73). Lord has 3,577 points after the first five events. He was second in the high jump (1.88), fourth in the shot put (12.47), fifth in the 400 (51.10), sixth in the long jump (6.74) and seventh in the 100 (11.62).

In the first qualifying event of the day, Princeton went 2-3 in the 1500 as sophomore Sam Ellis and senior Jeremy Spiezio both advance to tomorrow's final. Ellis clocked a 3:48.97 (46.41, 1:02.76, 1:03.61, 56.21) as he was in ninth place at 300 meters before moving up five spots to fourth during the next lap. At the bell he was in third and knocked off one more runner to take second in his heat. Spiezio ran a 3:49.03 (45.79, 1:03.56, 1:03.65, 56.07). He was in fifth place through 1100 meters before running the fastest final lap among all the competitors with a 56.07 to take third.

All three 110-meter hurdlers advance to tomorrow's final led by junior Joey Daniels who had the fastest time in the prelims with a 13.88. Freshman Christian Brown was third with a 13.99 – his first time clocking a sub-14, and freshman Taraje Whitfield was fifth, also with a PR, of 14.57.

It was a duplication in the 400 hurdles as again all three Tigers advance to the final. Juniors Gab Montefalcone clocked a PR of 52.49, Justice Dixon a 53.15 and Whitfield a 53.21.

Freshman Michael Phillippy and junior Connor Matthews both came up big for the Tigers in the 400 as both qualified for tomorrow's final with personal bests. Phillippy was second in heat 1 with the fifth fastest time on the afternoon with a 48.01. Matthews clocked a 48.11 to take third in heat 2 with the seventh fastest time.

In the 100, freshmen Simang'aliso Ndhlovu and Greg Sholars will run in the eight-man final. Ndhlovu was second in heat 1 with the third fastest time on the afternoon with a new PR of 10.56, while Sholars was second in heat 3 with the seventh-best time – a 10.71. Sholars also made the final of the 200 with a PR of 21.28.

Since 1993, Princeton has either won or placed second at outdoor Heps every single year – a streak of 25 years. With wins in both cross country and indoors, Princeton is going to give it its all tomorrow to try to claim the win and earn the ninth triple crown in program history.