Track & Field: McCullough, Tigers bring momentum outdoors

“All throughout indoors we didn’t feel like the guys had peaked at all — rather they were just gaining fitness and momentum toward outdoors,” assistant coach Steve Dolan said. “That’s how they are able to start running real well at the start of the season.”

With the fitness they had gained over the long winter months, the track teams traveled to Florida to train and race over spring break. Highlighting the day at the University of Central Florida Invitational, sophomore Conor McCullough hurled a new Ivy League record in the hammer. McCullough’s throw landed at 71.47 meters, over 5 meters farther than his nearest competitor. McCullough’s throw broke his old conference record of 70.79 meters from 2010.

Setting a pair of personal bests in the field, sophomore Damon McLean jumped 7.43 meters, or 24 feet 4.5 inches, in the long jump, and then followed up with a win in the triple jump, reaching 15.75 meters. Branching out to other event groups, McCullough also came back on the second day of the invitational to take sixth in the discus with a throw of 153 feet.

On the women’s side, the Tigers flooded the top spots of the 800m. Taking second place, junior Greta Feldman finished in two minutes, 8.01 seconds. Crossing the line right after her, classmate Alexis Mikaelian stopped the clock at 2:09.24, with yet more of her teammates filing in behind her in fourth, fifth and sixth place.

“We’re a whole new team coming from indoors to outdoors,” senior co-captain Alex Banfich said. “Over the spring break trip we had some really great performances, and people are looking really good. It’s been a turnaround.”

Meanwhile, junior Joie Hand ran a personal best of 1:00.68 to take third in the 400m hurdles, while classmate Abby Levene won the 10,000m in 36:01.16. Representing Princeton in the field events, sophomore Imani Oliver placed ninth in the triple jump, while freshman Nonny Okwelogu took home seventh place in the discus.

More than just a bonding experience, the break gave the women and men a great kick-start to the new season.

“We went to the national training center — it’s where the pros go and they have all the facilities for us. The week we spent there was great,” Banfich said. “The UCF meet was really competitive; we’ve never gone to it before, and I think it was good for us to get that bit of competition.”

While the majority of the track team soaked up the sun down south, the men’s middle-distance and distance crew remained in Princeton to take advantage of more hospitable training conditions for endurance events. After a solid week of training, the men took a field trip to Monmouth, N.J., to compete in the Monmouth Invitational mile.

“Monmouth was, more than anything, just a big fun team trip that we took,” senior co-captain Donn Cabral said. “It was something that we all looked forward to when we stayed on campus for spring break. The rest of the track team all went to Florida … Monmouth was sort of like our carrot.”

Treat or not, the Tigers did not take the race lightly, as 18 runners finished in under four minutes, 20 seconds — sweeping 18 of the top 20 places. Leading the wave of orange and black jerseys, Cabral finished a few heartbreaking tenths of a second away from breaking the four-minute barrier, stopping the clock at 4:00.96.

“We figured it would benefit everyone to run a mile, and it was really a lot of fun,” Dolan said. “They really pushed each other, and we had a lot of people run personal bests to start the outdoor season, which is great for our guys’ confidence and a lot of fun.”

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As with the other competitions that the rest of the team faced in Florida, the spring break race helped set the tone for the new season — and smooth the short move from Jadwin Gymnasium to the outdoor track.

“Indoors is just a buildup toward outdoors, so there really is no need for a respite between seasons,” Cabral said. “Monmouth was a good chance to make sure we’re still in the groove of racing and training hard and to keep things fun and exciting.”

Feeding off of the momentum from the mile, the Tigers journeyed to North Carolina this past weekend for the Raleigh Relays. Competing in events ranging from the 800m to the 5000m, the men put their training to the test as many set personal bests, as well as conference-leading and possibly regional-qualifying marks.

Competing in the 5K, senior Joe Stilin continued his string of great performances as he broke 14 minutes for the first time, finishing in third place in 13:51.17. Behind Stilin, the Tigers amazingly packed in four more runners under 14:10 — traditionally a qualifying time for the NCAA regional meet.

Looking forward to the rest of the season, both the men and women are eager to see what they can do at the larger competitions down the road. In the near future, this weekend’s Sam Howell Invitational marks the first of Princeton’s two major home meets, starting on Friday night and continuing into Saturday.

“We’re really excited for this weekend; it’s the first outdoor home meet,” Banfich said. “People are just really ready to do what they can do and see all that training from over spring break and before really take shape. It’s a great benchmark.”