With home field advantage and racing under a crisp sunny sky, it was quite the day for the Princeton Tigers in both races at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships, known as “Heps.”
Entering Saturday, not a single member of No. 22 Princeton’s men’s cross country team knew the feeling of losing at Heps. That stayed true, as the Princeton men captured their fourth consecutive and Ivy-leading 25th total title this weekend.
The same would have been true about the Harvard women if Saturday’s race had played out the same way an early season meeting of the two teams did. However, Princeton took advantage of running on their home course, playing spoiler to the Crimson and taking their tenth Ivy title, also the most in conference history.
Four top ten finishes put Princeton women back on top
The Princeton women entered the day having finished a heartbreaking second to the Crimson in each of the last three renditions of Heps. When the two squads faced off for the first time this season at the Paul Short Run at Lehigh, Harvard eked by the Tigers, showing there wasn’t much daylight between the two.
The stakes were further elevated by the historic nature of the season — the 50th year of women’s athletic championships in the Ivy League, the most of any NCAA conference.
This momentous occasion and the swirling narrative of a potential four-peat inspired head coach Brad Hunt’s message to the team the night before: “No better time than to stop the streak than at our place, celebrating 50 years of women’s athletics in the Ivy League.”
“We knew that if we were going to take the title home, we would have to run together,” senior Lexi Allen told the ‘Prince.’
In the early stages of the race, two groups of Tigers formed, one just in front of the mass of Crimson runners and another close behind. When Harvard’s pack finally splintered late, Princeton was in perfect position to take advantage and ultimately capitalized by bringing home four Tigers before the third Crimson jersey made it to the line.
Columbia’s Phoebe Anderson won the six-kilometer race in 19:52, the second-fastest winning time in Heps history. Following Anderson was a pair of Tigers as senior Mena Scatchard followed by sophomore Anna McNatt sprinted past Harvard’s top runner in the home stretch to claim the second and third podium spots.
Allen and first year Meg Madison were close behind, securing seventh and eighth place respectively. The top rookie of the day, Madison was the only first year on either All-Ivy team, composed of the fourteen fastest championship competitors.
Twenty minutes and 53 seconds after the gun went off, the Tigers sealed their first Heps victory in nine years as first year Emma De Jong crossed the line in twentieth place, capping the Tigers’ final score at 40 points, thirteen fewer than Harvard’s 53.
As runners streamed across the finish line, the Tigers huddled together with bated breath. When the results became official, celebration ensued, and home fans— including a sizable fraction of the Princeton track team—swarmed the champions.
The team’s jubilation was evident to all, with Allen recounting the success as “one of the most amazing experiences of [her] time at Princeton.”
While this year’s cross country team is the one that finally emerged victorious, Allen made sure to emphasize the contributions of previous teammates.
“They're as much a part of this win as the people who are running,” she told the ‘Prince.’ “Their leadership, the standards that they set for the team throughout these four years have really set the affectation that this is a winning team.”
The Tigers face another tough challenge in two weeks at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship. The region is one of the strongest in the country, and only the top two teams are guaranteed an NCAA Championships qualifier. Princeton is currently ranked fifth in the region, but Allen and the team are optimistic.
“I'm confident that if we continue to race the way we did at Heps we have a nice shot at advancing to that national meet,” Allen said.
Men four-peat, overcome pre-race favorite Harvard with late surge
While first place was all but assured to go to national No. 15 Harvard’s Graham Blanks, the rest of the men’s race was up for grabs as the Tigers and the Crimson, the league’s top two teams, battled for a victory.
Toeing the start line shortly after the women emerged victorious, the Princeton men took a commanding lead early, excited to race on their home course.
“We were really excited to host the league here and have everybody come run at our new course, which we’re really proud of,” Head Coach Jason Vigilante told the ‘Prince.’
Ahead seven points at the 4600-meter mark, the Tigers got surpassed by Harvard mid-race. While junior Myles Hogan held on in the top three, seniors Harrison Witt and Nicholas Bendtsen slowed, being passed by multiple runners.
Buoyed by the home fans and running on familiar grass, the Tigers did not count themselves out. Princeton held right behind Harvard until the closing thousand meters, where Bendtsen and junior Connor McCormick executed successful closing pushes to gain vital points late.
“The home course definitely played a role, and … how badly we wanted this Ivy League title also played a role in [the comeback],” Vigilante said.
While Blanks, an NCAA champion and Paris Olympian, surprised nobody by winning by over 30 seconds in the 8-kilometer race, the largest margin of victory since 2008, the Tigers' team performance helped them to finish first. Led by Hogan’s finish at 23:05 in fifth place, Princeton’s top five all finished in the top 14, with junior Jackson Shorten and Witt rounding out the Tigers’ elites.
While only five runners count towards the final score, and just the top seven can influence the scoring of other teams, the Tigers’ impressive depth was on full display as all twelve Princeton runners crossed the line before Harvard had their fifth scorer in.
With “We Are the Champions” blaring over the course, the Tigers captured their fourth straight, and Ivy-best 25th overall, Heps title.
“We make that very clear right from the get-go in the recruiting process that the team is the most important thing,” Vigilante said. “When you walk into Jadwin, there’s a sign that says ‘Oranje Boven,’ and in Dutch, it means ‘orange above all.’”
Witt’s endurance for his first top-5 of the season and the rest of the squad’s teamwork extended Harvard’s championship drought to 52 years, a remarkable number in an eight-team league.
Witt, whose specialty is the mile, had his strongest performance just when he was needed. He emphasized the team-first mentality, telling the ‘Prince,’ “each of us are racing for something bigger than [ourselves].”
Up next for the Tigers is the Mid-Atlantic Regionals in two weeks. Ranked just behind Villanova and Georgetown, Princeton will be vying for a spot at the NCAA Championships the following week.
NCAAs has been the team’s main goal all season, and as it draws closer, excitement for a strong finish is building in the squad.
“We are laser-focused on the national championships. Last year, we were 11th at NCAAs. This year, our goal is to be a top-10 team,” Witt said.
Max Hines is a senior Sports writer for the ‘Prince.’
Luke Stockless is a contributing Sports writer for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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