This spring break, a trip to the beach was in order for several of the Tigers’ top track and field athletes. The NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, held this past weekend in Virginia Beach, VA, pitted the Tigers’ stripes against the nation’s foremost stars.
Senior Mena Scatchard established herself amongst the NCAA’s best, finishing as national runner-up in the mile. Senior Harrison Witt, junior Greg Foster, and the men’s distance medley relay (DMR) team each finished tenth in their events, earning all-American second team honors.
Day 1: Survive and advance
To open the meet, Scatchard and Witt each finished second in their respective preliminary heats of the women’s and men’s mile to cruise into the ten-person finals. The Tigers’ star duo employed opposite strategies, with Scatchard kicking from the back and Witt commanding his race up front.
Foster was the first Tiger to compete for medals, doing so in Friday night’s long jump final. The NCAA veteran achieved a 7.45m leap, which would net him tenth place, an improvement on his 15th place finish in 2023.
The last race on the first day of action was the men’s DMR. Princeton’s squad consisted of sophomore Collin Boler, sophomore Xavier Donaldson, senior Sam Rodman, and junior Connor McCormick.
The Tigers sat in 11th through the first handoff. Over the next two legs, Princeton moved into 10th, but the pack was stringing out. McCormick got the baton on the anchor and fought hard to reattach himself to the top group but was unable to stay with them as the pace quickened.
“When I got the baton, I wasn’t thinking about how far back I was,” McCormick told The Daily Princetonian. “I felt my teammates ran great legs and got me into a position where I could do anything. Immediately, I ran hard to reattach to [the] front pack and give myself a chance to compete.”
Day 2: The hunter and the hunted
Despite her stellar finish, Scatchard almost didn’t make it to nationals in the first place.
With just hours remaining in the NCAAs’ qualifying window on March 3rd, the ACC Championships produced a lightning fast mile final which bumped Scatchard below the qualifying threshold. Luckily for her, several athletes opted to contest other events, freeing up a spot.
Still, as she was one of the last runners in, Scatchard’s entry time was one of the slowest in the field. Most coaches and competitors looking over the entry sheet may not have paid much attention to her name — but many know it now.
In the final, Scatchard mirrored her prelims strategy and hung back early on. Elbows flew as the nation’s best jostled for position amongst each other, but Scatchard, contently biding her time in last place, avoided the chaos.
“I knew I was in a good position at the back as I was able to run the shortest distance on the rail and avoid getting tripped up,” Scatchard told the ‘Prince.’ “I just stayed calm and was confident in my ability to close. When it got to 250m to go I thought to myself, you feel good just go for it.”
Go for it she did. Coming up to the bell lap, Scatchard swung wide into lane 3 and began to surge towards the front. From there, she was unstoppable. Scatchard passed eight people and dipped at the line to clock a 4:32.87, beating out Northern Arizona University’s Maggi Congdon by 0.01 seconds and turning her would-be bronze into a silver.
Scatchard covered her last 200m in an astonishing 28.51 seconds — the fastest recorded last lap split in this race since 2013 — but Scatchard says she was focused on placement, not time.
“Once I got going I just felt great and so snappy and fast. I wasn’t aware of how fast I was going as all I was focused on was my competition and passing as many people as possible,” Scatchard explained. “I’m so happy with the result, I was able to really put myself on the map and achieve something better than I thought I would.”
Scatchard’s performance crowned a great season for herself and the entire women’s team. “The last two weeks have been outstanding for Mena and the team in every way,” women’s distance coach Brad Hunt told the ‘Prince.’
Later that day in the men’s mile final, Witt committed to leading the race from the gun and pushing the pace even harder this time. “I made an active choice to run away from the field and try to break them early,” he told the ‘Prince.’
Often billed as a “noble” or “heroic” way of racing, front-running in a championship mile race is a compelling but difficult strategy. Witt was Icarus, sooner willing to burn up in a blaze of glory than never attempt to reach the greatest heights possible. And burn up he did, as he was challenged with 500m to go but did not have the strength to hold off the horde. Witt was ultimately surpassed by all nine other runners in the field, finishing 10th in 3:59.71.
“I never want to feel like I didn’t go all out, and pushing the pace early will always make me give my full effort,” Witt told the ‘Prince.’ “I entered into the NCAA Championship focused on winning gold, and I am proud of myself for taking a risk and going for broke right from the start.”
While it did not end the way he had hoped, the senior mounted a phenomenal campaign in his last indoor season representing the Orange and Black.
Witt twice set the Ivy League record in the mile and won two events at Heps, helping the team capture their tenth straight Ivy title. However, Witt maintains that the support of his teammates has been invaluable this season, and he expects big things from the whole squad outdoors.
“My teammates and I are on the cusp of breaking through on the national stage in a big way, and I have the utmost confidence that we will do so outdoors,” Witt concluded.
The outdoor season begins this Saturday at the Penn Challenge in Philadelphia.
Luke Stockless is a staff Sports writer for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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