February 25, 2012

Worthen Sets All-Time Pole Vault Mark on Day One of 2012 Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Track & Field Championships

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Photo courtesy of Princeton Athletic Communications

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Columbia, Harvard and Dartmouth's women's track and field teams are neck-and-neck after the first day of the 2012 Ivy League Indoor Heptagonal Championships, which are taking place in Barton Hall on the campus of Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y.

The Lions are in first-place with 34 points, followed by the Crimson with 31 points and Dartmouth with 29 points. Brown and Cornell each have 19 points apiece, while Princeton is in sixth-place with 16 points. Yale (4) and Penn (3) are in seventh and eighth, respectively.

Princeton junior Tory Worthen defended her pole vault title with an all-meet record of 13-6 ¼, a full inch better than the all-time Indoor Heptagonals mark set by Yale's Molly Lederman in 2006 and half an inch better than the previous all-meet mark, set by Worthen in 2010.

In one of the closest finishes ever, the 5,000m run was decided by a hundreth of a second. Brown sophomore Heidi Caldwell won the race in 16:38.01 after passing Dartmouth sophomore Abbey D'Agostino at the finish line. Caldwell becomes the first Bear to win the 5,000m since Kim Thalman in 2001.

For the second-straight year, Dartmouth pentathletes Janae Dunchack and Priscilla Trojano went 1-2 in the event. Dunchack totaled 3,733 points, the highest score since since 2006, when Cornell's Jamie Greubel finished with 3,890 points. The Big Green has won the last three pentathlons, as Trojano placed first in 2010.

Harvard sophomore Adabelle Ekechukwu became the first Crimson since 2003 (BreeAnna Gibson) to win the weight throw, recording a toss of 59-11 ¾, the fourth-best mark in Indoor Heptagonals history. Columbia junior Uju Ofoche won the long jump for the second-straight season, giving the Lions their first-ever back-to-back champion in the event. Ofoche reached 19-6 ¼ to take the title.

Team standings through the four completed events are as follows:
1.   Columbia, 34
2.   Harvard, 31
3.   Dartmouth, 29
4.   Brown, 19
5.   Cornell, 19
6.   Princeton, 16
7.   Yale, 4
8.   Penn, 3