Electricity permeated the atmosphere this Valentine’s Day weekend at the Boston College Eagle Elite Invitational and the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational. Bolstered by raucous crowds and two of the fastest indoor tracks in the country, the Tigers’ track squad once again rewrote Princeton’s record books.
Sounding like a broken record
No, it’s not déjà vu. Seniors Mena Scatchard and Harrison Witt broke the school record in the mile on the same day for the second time in three weeks. Both runners took an astounding four seconds off their newly-minted marks, with Scatchard running 4:28.43 and Witt clocking 3:52.87.
Three hundred fifty-four runners in 27 heats contested the Valentine Invitational mile. Despite only being seeded in the second-fastest section, Witt posted the fastest time of the day to win the race outright. His 3:52.87 improved upon his own Ivy League record and ranks him 15th in NCAA history.
Witt’s effort was not a fully solo endeavor, as senior Sam Rodman set the pace for him.
“Sam made my job a lot easier by pacing me through 800 meters and then slingshotting me around the curve,” Witt told The Daily Princetonian. “After that, I turned my brain off and just ran with my heart.”
The rest of the team helped him along as well.
“The best part was hearing how loud my teammates were each lap when I passed them. It fueled me to find that last one percent and finish strong,” Witt said.
Scatchard also earned a victory alongside her record, taking down 46 other runners in the Eagle Elite field. Scatchard continues to widen the gap between herself and former Princetonians, having now taken over eight seconds off the school record this season. Earlier in the season, she quoted a goal of 4:30, and she has now become the first Tiger to topple that barrier.
In the same race, sophomore Hannah Riggins ran 4:35.51 for seventh place, making her the second-fastest Tiger of all time.
But things move quickly in NCAA track and field. When they crossed the line, Scatchard and Witt were eighth and ninth in the NCAA mile respectively. They are now 15th and 11th, both still within the top 16 that will be selected for nationals with two weeks left in the qualifying window.
It’s gotta be the track
Boston University’s indoor track is notoriously fast. Its reputation attracts world-record talent, deep collegiate fields, and even allegations of illegitimacy.
One of the 36 sub-4:00 clockings on this track at the Valentine Invitational belonged to sophomore Collin Boler, who ran 3:59.07, marking his first time under the barrier.
Boler has had several near misses in the past, including a 4:00.49 first-year PR and a 4:00.08 last weekend, but this time he finally broke through.
“Sub 4 wasn’t necessarily my only goal for the race, but it was definitely on the back of my mind, especially with my near misses over the past year. It felt great to break a barrier I’ve been chasing for quite a while,” Boler told the ‘Prince’.
Boler noted the quick conditions of BU, but, like Witt, he gave more credit to his Princeton teammates. “BU’s atmosphere is something else, and it definitely added to the excitement levels a bit. However, the biggest contributor to my extra excitement was watching Harrison throw down his blazing 3:52 just a few minutes before I went off,“ he said.
“We have a saying that goes “Team, Teammates, Self”, and any time any of us toes the line, we know we're running for our brothers and not ourselves.”
Junior Connor McCormick recorded a 3:56.40, a slight improvement on his school No. 2 mark. The first-year duo of Marcelo Parra and Steven Hergenrother narrowly missed the four-minute threshold with 4:01 clockings.
Also at Valentine, five Princetonians — first-year Jacob Nenow, seniors Daniel O’Brien and Nicholas Bendtsen, and juniors Myles Hogan and Jackson Shorten — broke eight minutes in the 3000m.
Nenow, a transfer from the University of Tennessee, led all Tigers with his 7:55.55. He, O’Brien, and Hogan join Bendtsen (7:54.81 in 2024) on the school’s all-time top 10 list, and Shorten sits just outside.
Field and track
Not to be outdone by the historic performances on the track, Tiger jumpers, throwers, and vaulters won six out of the 12 field events at the Eagle Elite.
Sophomore Angela McAuslan-Kelly earned a victory in the weight throw with an 18.22m toss, and junior Alexandra Kelly hopped, stepped, and jumped out to a 12.27m triple jump win.
The defending Ivy League long jump and triple jump champion, junior Georgina Scoot, flew out to 5.99m to take the long jump crown. In her six total attempts, Scoot produced four leaps that measured further than any of her competitors’ best marks.
Junior Tessa Mudd, another 2024 Heps Champion, cleared 4.06m to win the pole vault. Mudd is currently ranked 22nd in the NCAA with a 4.36m performance from January and is on the outskirts of qualifying for her second consecutive NCAA Championships.
On the men’s side, senior Sebastian Clatworthy won the high jump with a 2.07m clearance, and junior Nicholas Molloy soared over 4.91m to win the pole vault. Both men are looking to improve upon their fifth-place finishes at last year’s Heps.
Luke Stockless is a staff Sports writer for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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