The oval has been hot to kick off the Tigers’ 2025 indoor track campaign, with multiple athletes shattering school records and the men’s and women’s squads securing identical 104–75 dual meet victories over Navy. This past Saturday, seniors Mena Scatchard and Harrison Witt headlined the program’s strong start, each recording the fastest mile times in Princeton history. Witt stormed home to a 3:56.12 over the 1,609-meter distance at the Penn 10 Elite meet in Philadelphia, and just hours later, Scatchard stopped the clock at 4:32.95 at the Dr. Sander Scorcher meet in New York City.
Both Scatchard and Witt have already enshrined themselves in the Tiger record books this season. Scatchard posted a 9:00.86 in the 3,000m at Boston University’s Colyear-Danville Season Opener, a program record and fourth all-time in the Ivy League. Witt ran 2:19.93 in the 1,000m against Navy, just a shade outside of the 44-year old Ivy League record.
Witt has been a mid-distance titan since his first year, but he arrived as a significant force over the long-haul cross country distances this fall, helping the team win Heps (the nickname for the Ivy League championships) and qualify for nationals. Equipped with this experience of success, he has been dominating his traditional distances.
Nevertheless, these records aren’t the main focus of Witt’s training.
“I actually have no plans for record attempts. I run faster when I focus on winning the race instead of chasing the clock,” Witt wrote to The Daily Princetonian. “The Ivy record was not a goal of mine entering Saturday’s race. My only goal was to put myself in a good position and then compete hard when it got going fast.”
Witt wasn’t alone in usurping the previous school record, set at 3:56.77 by Duncan Miller ’23. Junior Connor McCormick was right on his tail, ending up with a 3:56.47 to Witt’s 3:56.12 and knocking Miller to third. The pair finished fifth and seventh in a field of top collegians and became just the ninth and 10th Tigers to crack the illustrious 4:00 barrier.
“We push each other in training and work as a unit consistently,” said Witt on the importance of having people like McCormick to run with. “I have full trust that each race when I go to the front, those guys will be right on my tail.”
Witt is not just the fastest Princetonian miler ever: His time topped the previous Ivy League record — a 3:56.63 clocking by Harvard’s Graham Blanks in 2023. The Crimson’s standout senior will not be able to recoup this achievement as he recently forewent his remaining NCAA eligibility to sign professionally with New Balance.
Blanks’ departure represents a crucial championship advantage for the Princeton men who will seek their 10th consecutive Heps title this March. Witt shared that his sights are set on leading a 1–2 Princeton finish with McCormick at the Ivy League Championships to aid in the team’s quest for the 10-peat.
Looking even further into the postseason, Witt and McCormick are currently ranked 15th and 18th in the NCAA, on the cusp of qualifying for nationals, but the duo will likely need to find another few fractions to cut if this season’s qualifying cutoff is similar to last year’s 3:55.46.
Despite the fact that no Ivy man has contested the mile at nationals since 2016, there is nothing but optimism from Witt on this front. “We have a lot left in the tank. Once we clean up a lot of tactical mistakes, I know that we can run even faster and hopefully qualify for nationals,” he told the ‘Prince.’
While Witt and McCormick shaved just a few tenths from the old record, Scatchard charted new frontiers altogether, taking nearly four seconds off the previous Princeton best of 4:36.53 set by Maggie Liebich ’24. Her performance is also of national significance, as the North Yorkshire, U.K. native became the 17th fastest indoor miler in British history.
On her goals entering the race, Scatchard told the ‘Prince’ that “I definitely had the record in mind. I kinda just wanted to run as close to 4:30 as possible.”
Prior to Saturday, only three Princeton women had ever eclipsed 4:40, and challenging the 4:30 barrier was unheard of. However, Scatchard was undeterred and successfully brought the program to yet unforeseen heights.
She opened her race conservatively and moved around three people in the final 109 meters to place sixth in a star-studded field of professionals and the NCAA’s finest.
While track is often billed as an individual sport, the importance of the team is illuminated in these bright moments. Whereas McCormick and Witt helped each other during their race, Scatchard was bolstered by her teammates immediately after her run. “Stepping off the track, I saw my teammates and my coach and everyone was super pumped, so it was just like a great feeling,” she noted.
Scatchard’s time currently places her as the sixth fastest miler in the country this year. Just 16 athletes per event qualify for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, and those with the 16 fastest regular season marks are given the first invitations.
Last year, the 16th ranked miler posted a 4:30.87, and Scatchard’s 4:32.95 would have placed her 23rd. However, some top performers may qualify in multiple events and decide not to contest all of them, leaving spots open down the line. At the 2024 Championships, the season’s 24th fastest runner (4:33.04) was the last to make the cut and toe the line.
Scatchard is not looking to rely on chance to punch her ticket to nationals, however. She’s eyeing another mile race in a few weeks at the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational “with the hopes of trying to lower [her record] and get close to that 4:30 mark” to achieve her goal of lining up at the national championships in Virginia this March.
Apart from NCAAs, Scatchard and the Princeton women will seek to avenge last year’s runner-up finish at Heps in just five weeks’ time.
Luke Stockless is a Sports contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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