HEPS Track and Field 2012-13

C/M Runner wrote:

From what I had heard, Sharay Hale opted out of Heps because she was afraid that she was still hurt (even though she had raced a few times and her coach was confident in her running) and she would lose.

As for Morlu, I have no idea. I have not heard her name at all during indoors.

This info is third-hand, at best, so take it for what it's worth: I had heard from other NYers that some/a few of the Columbia women, after winning a Heps title in magnificent fashion last year, decided that they had achieved their big goal--and were no longer interested in taking the subway to practice X days per week. So they said "see ya" and moved on to other things.

Again, for what it's worth...

Speaking of NYC, does anyone know the status of Neer's health? The distance races at Heps were a bit bichromatic--not much at the top end besides Green and Red--getting some Blue up front could make things more interesting. (I've been told we'll see Brown up there at outdoor Heps...)

Sorry, I guess it's "dichromatic."

The tfrrs site has an Ivy outdoor list going:

http://www.tfrrs.org/lists/1051.html

I appreciate their carrying indoor marks (in appropriate events) over to the outdoor list. Apparently Cornell's marks from today's meet (

http://www.flashwest.com/13Meets/13Aztec/

) are not up yet, so Dartmouth looks a little lonely in outdoor-only events.

Ah, I see why Cornell's marks aren't posted yet--not all the field marks from the meet are in. Anyway, at a very quick glance not a whole lot of great marks for the Big Red, although Montez Blair won the high jump (at 2.20m) and teammate Tommy Butler once again was also over 7ft (2.15); Stephen Mozia threw 62ft (18.91) in the shot, his best-ever (I believe) outdoor throw and within a foot of Dave Doupe's ancient school record.

Finally got a look at the last couple of field events from Cornell's meet, and see that Robert Robbins, their new JT guy, threw just short of 67m/220ft in this season opener. That gives the Big Red instant credibility in one of the previous "holes" in their lineup: last year's Heps was won with a throw under 64m!

Whoa--a javelin toss in the range of 67m is a great throw! HTC's AotW, maybe? (Not that I've seen the other results from the weekend...)

BRF wrote:

The tfrrs site has an Ivy outdoor list going:

http://www.tfrrs.org/lists/1051.html

I appreciate their carrying indoor marks (in appropriate events) over to the outdoor list.

Well, it looks like they've carried them over only down to the high jump--after that, they're listing only outdoor marks for the rest of the field events. Seems like a strange inconsistency there, but who knows.

No AOTW until after spring break. Only Dartmouth and Cornell competed this past weekend.

Speaking of Cornell's meet, I thought I saw an unattached Adam Bragg in the Aztec Invitational pole vault. He vaulted for Princeton, right? Could there be another Adam Bragg pole vaulter out there? According to Princeon's website, he is a sophomore.

Rachel Sorna blitzed an Ivy League record 9:50.39 steeple in Cali, winning by almost a minute. Sorna is already an All-American in cross and indoors and this 9:50 bodes well for a really high finish outdoors. It's not at the level of Shalaya Kipp (9:35) yet, but definitely good enough to run with any of the rest of the college steeplers out there.

And, as reported at HTC, Princeton frosh Julia Ratcliffe hammered 63.99 at UCF, breaking the Ivy record by more than two meters.

HTC reported Sorna's mark (a PR by 20+ seconds), but labeled her a senior--pretty sure she's a junior.

Cornell seems fairly well stocked in the steeplechase this spring--always assuming that people stay healthy--as they also return the reigning ECAC steeple champ, Genna Hartung.

Cornell wrapped up its California trip with the second day at Irvine's Spring Break Collegiate Invitational:

http://www.flashwest.com/13Meets/13Spring/

In addition to Rachel Sorna's world-leading(!) 9:50 SC on Day I, the Big Red got a couple of school records from The Usual Suspects on Day II: Montez Blair with a clearance of 7-4 1/4, currently the top NCAA outdoor mark; and Stephen Mozia, in high school nominally a discus thrower more than a shot putter, with a 179-6 DT to offset a middling SP. The women JTers went 1-2-3 and the men LJers had three at 7.24 or farther, all with legal wind.

C/M Runner wrote:

I thought I saw an unattached Adam Bragg in the Aztec Invitational pole vault. He vaulted for Princeton, right? Could there be another Adam Bragg pole vaulter out there? According to Princeon's website, he is a sophomore.

Bragg is currently taking a year off from Princeton. Will be back in the fall.

I see that Penn freshman Sam Mattis started the season with a 189'2" in the discus, #9 nationally. Apparently he broke Penn's 19 year old record on his very first collegiate throw. I believe this is the #6 Heps all-time. If the kid can do this on a 46 degree day the saucer should fly when it warms up. The Ivy throwing prowess continues to improve

lovetothrowlong wrote:

I see that Penn freshman Sam Mattis started the season with a 189'2" in the discus, #9 nationally. Apparently he broke Penn's 19 year old record on his very first collegiate throw. I believe this is the #6 Heps all-time. If the kid can do this on a 46 degree day the saucer should fly when it warms up. The Ivy throwing prowess continues to improve

I hope your child enjoys Penn!

Nephew, actually. The Cornell side of the family wishes he had gone north but Penn if fine, too. What a pair he and Mozia would have made for Big Red.

TK1451 wrote:

C/M Runner wrote:

I thought I saw an unattached Adam Bragg in the Aztec Invitational pole vault. He vaulted for Princeton, right? Could there be another Adam Bragg pole vaulter out there? According to Princeon's website, he is a sophomore.

Bragg is currently taking a year off from Princeton. Will be back in the fall.

Academically-related, like McCullough?

BRF - TFRRS didn't carry over any indoor marks, or at least they are not included as of this morning (3/25).

So to my knowledge, all but Columbia competed so far?

Also, it looks like quite a few teams are aiming to participate in the Texas Relays later this week (27th - 30th) - does anyone have any idea who they will be sending?

Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth & Harvard at Texas Relays (Myers Stadium: Austin, Texas)

Nevermind: I found the answer to my own question. Initial qualifiers are below (will be finalized tomorrow)

college/university men:

http://www.texassports.com/sports/tex-relays/stats/2012-2013/2013texasrelaysuniv-collmeninitialqualifiers3-21.html

decathlon: Peter Rhodes & Evan Weinstock (Brown)

5,000: Paul Snyder (Columbia)

Pole vault: Nico Weiler (Harvard)

Shot Put: Dustin Brode, Ben Glauser, Igor Liokumovich (Harvard)

Discus: Michael Levine (Yale)

Hammer: Ben Glauser (Harvard)

college/university women:

http://www.texassports.com/sports/tex-relays/stats/2012-2013/2013trelaysuniv-collwomeninitialqualifiers3-21.html

100: Ashley Cunningham, Marvellous Iheukwumere (Columbia)

HH: Iris Chijioke (Columbia), Olivia Abbate & Autumne Franklin (Harvard)

IH: Autumne Franklin (Harvard)

4x100: Columbia, Harvard

4x200: Columbia

4x400: Harvard

Long Jump: Uju Ofoche (Columbia)

Triple Jump: Nadia Eke & Queen Okeke (Columbia)

Heptathlon: Martina Salander (Harvard), Janae Dunchack (Dartmouth)

High Jump: Mary Hirst (Harvard)

Pole Vault: Syndie Leroy (Harvard)

Shot Put: Shannon Watt (Harvard)

Discus: Shannon Watt (Harvard)

Javelin: Hanna Mayer (Harvard)

Hammer: Adabelle Ekechukwu (Harvard)

Well, it looks like seven of the eight Ivies have now had some kind of outdoor competition, albeit with partial squads. No point in "virtual" scoring, but does anyone have thoughts on what they've seen so far? I'll start, but unlike many of you I have no inside info on any team, so am just going by the performance list (

http://tfrrs.org/lists/1051.html

) and my memory of indoors:

Brown has only competed in throwing events so far. (Shazzuy, any early, general thoughts on the League's throwers and outdoor Heps?) There, Courtland Clavette looks like he'll be one of the guys elevating the Ivy discus event to a distinctly higher level than last year's. That should be a great competition!

Lacey Craker has opened the season with college-career bests in both the discus and hammer. The latter should be one of the very strongest events at Heps in terms of national-level marks, and a treat to watch.

Columbia has not opened its season.

Cornell had its annual pair of California meets. Obviously they didn't take everyone (basically no distance men), but their guys are looking fairly strong almost across the board, with the only apparent gaps (based on indoors) in the decathlon and the longer races--but they seem to be making a comeback in the latter. Their continuing strength in the hurdles, jumps (except TJ--surprising for a Cornell squad!), and throws should make them a top-two team once again.

With all the points available in longer races outdoors, the Big Red women will certainly be contenders. But with a dearth of short sprinters, relative weakness in the horizontal jumps, and (apparently) "giving away" two of the throwing events, the Big Red may have too many gaps to take the title.

For both the Cornell men's and women's title hopes, the throws may be key (as they were last year, at least on the men's side). Aside from Rhodes, most of their touted recruiting class in the events has not been much in evidence.

Dartmouth's Thomas Servino is the early leader in the wide-open hammer throw, and Connor Reilly seems to be the class of the League in the 100. The squad had only limited participation in early meets, and it'll be a couple of weeks before any fuller assessment is possible.

On the women's side, Megan Krumpoch (400, flat and hurdles), Emmaline Berg (throws), and Mollie Gribbin (horizontal jumps) have already performed well; add their event winners from indoor Heps, and the Big Green should be a frequent presence on the award stand.

The Harvard men had a small squad in a single meet, but Malcolm Rodriguez (TJ) and Jarvis Harris (HH) currently lead their events, and Nico Weiler (PV) already seems out of reach. Add the distance runners and especially their deep throwing squad, and the Cantabs should be a solid pick to repeat their top-three finish from indoors.

And speaking of repeating, the Crimson women--who won indoors, despite not getting every possible point from Marina Salander--will definitely be contenders. In their very limited outdoor action, Autumne Franklin is already the Ivy leader in both hurdles events.

Penn opened its outdoor season in Philly, under less than ideal conditions. (Even with partial squads, and skipping several events, the Quakers showed the same kind of large teams that we've seen in the past from Cornell.) Sam Mattis got his season off to a brilliant start in the discus; and Morgan Wheeler is the early leader and early favorite in the women's javelin.

Princeton had a few men open their season at the UCF meet, but based on their indoor performances they certainly shape up as the team to beat at outdoor Heps. (I realize they were the favorites indoors, too!) In order to win, Cornell would have to take full advantage of the Tigers' weakness in the throws--but even if they did, Princeton's top-line strength in most of the other events would be hard to beat. Should be another great (and close) contest between those two.

The PU women had a few more people compete at UCF. They may have some gaps in the lineup, but should still be in the mix: their sprinters and middle-distance runners showed their strength in Florida, as did the distance crew (a team-tempo 10,000m, with five nonseniors at or under 37mins.).

Yale had some people at one meet. On the men's side, Michael Levine (DT) opened well, as did the 1500m group.

The Yale women feature Sydney Cureton, early leader on the 100m list, and it looks like their distancewomen are back on track as well.