Courtesy: Princeton Athletic CommunicationsHANOVER, N.H. (2/28/10) - The Princeton women's track and field team won the 2010 Indoor Track and Field Heptagonal Championship giving the Tigers a sweep after the men's team won earlier in the day. This is the first time since 1997-98 that both teams have claimed simultaneous titles.
Princeton finished with 125 points to Columbia's 110. Cornell followed in third place with 96 points, then Harvard with 61, Brown 55, Penn 48, Yale and Dartmouth both had 16.
The Tigers finished Heps with seven titles including: the mile, 3000, 5000, weight throw, shot put, pole vault and 4x800 relay
Tied with Brown after day one, junior Ashley Higginson got things started for the Tigers on Sunday winning the mile. Her time of 4:46.55 is the fourth fastest in Heps history and meets NCAA provisional qualifying standards. Sophomore Alex Banfich took second at 4:48.91, as the only two runners to complete the mile in under 4:50.
Five events later, the Tigers had fallen back into third place with 65 points with Cornell leading with 76 followed by Columbia with 72. Left remaining were three field events, the 3000 and the two relays.
After winning the 5000 yesterday, senior Reilly Kiernan won her second title in the 3000 and led Princeton in a 1-2-3 sweep of the event. Kiernan finished in 9:27.91 and was followed by Banfich at 9:32.69 and Higginson at 9:34.90. The sweep regained the first place standing for the Tigers with 89 points with Columbia and Cornell trailing with 78 and 73 points.
Junior Thanithia Billings widened the gap when she won the weight throw. Billings threw to 17.14 meters (56-03.00). Taking third was classmate Emma Ruggiero with a mark of 16.62 meters (54-06.50) to give Princeton a 17-point lead over Columbia in the team standings.
The final event before the relays was the high jump and junior KC Wade came through in a big way for the Tigers. Wade cleared 1.70 meters (5-7.00) to finish in second place behind Columbia's Monique Roberts to give Princeton a 15-point lead on the Lions.
The Tigers 4x800 relay team sealed the win for Princeton, its first since 2007-08. Freshmen Greta Feldman, Alexis Mikaelian and juniors Brooke Russell and Libby Bliss clocked in at 8:52.15.
Princeton wrapped up the meet with a fifth-place finish in the 4x800.
Adding to the team's points during the two-day event were sprinters sophomore Eileen Moran and freshman Abidemi Adenikinju. Moran was third in the 60-meter dash at 7.63 with Adenikinju placing fifth at 7.70 to add eight points to the team's title. Moran went on to finish in second place in the 200 to Columbia's Sharay Hale, the Most Outstanding Performer of the Meet, as she clocked in at 24.67.
