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Records Fall on Day One of Heptagonal Women's Indoor Track & Field Championships
Championship Central | Results | Photo Gallery | Day 1 Highlights | Weekend
Rewind
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Looking for its first title
since 2009, the Cornell women's track and field team finished the
first day of the Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Track & Field in
first-place with 35 team points.
But the Big Red will have its work cut out for it to hold on to
the title, as Harvard (29), Princeton (26.5), Dartmouth (22) and
Columbia (22) are all in position to jump to the front. Brown
(12.5), Yale (4) and Penn (4) round out the rest of the
standings.
Cornell leads the way even though the Big Red did not take first
in any of the five championship events on the day. Junior
Rachel Sorna and senior Katie
Kellner gave their team 14 points in the 5,000m, finishing
second and third with times of 15:56.63 and 16:07.19,
respectively.
The Big Red also put a pair of athletes on the podium in the long
jump, where freshman Hillary Holmes placed second
with a mark of 18-9 and junior Anjelique Parnell
took sixth with a leap of 18-5 ¼. Holmes also took third in
the pentathlon, garnering 3,696 points. Senior Lindsey
Patterson placed third in the pole vault after clearing
12-5 ½.
But the highlights of the day came from the teams that currently
trail Cornell in the standings. Princeton senior Tory
Worthen became the first-ever four-time indoor pole vault
champion, clearing 13-1 ½. Last year's Indoor Track &
Field Championship Most Outstanding Performer set the third-best
pole vault mark in meet history.
In the highly anticipated women's weight throw, Harvard junior
Adabelle Ekechukwu and Princeton freshman
Julia Ratcliffe did not disappoint. Earlier this
season, Ratcliffe twice set the all-time Ivy League record in the
event, only to see Ekechukwu break both marks at HYP. Ekechukwu
knew she needed her best to hold off Ratcliffe, and she brought it,
again setting an Ivy League record with a toss of 68-4 ¼ to
hold on to the indoor weight throw title. Ratcliffe placed second
with a mark of 61-4 ¼.
In last year's 5,000m, Dartmouth's Abbey
D'Agostino was passed at the finish line. The 2012 outdoor
5,000m champion did not let that happen again, as she set a meet
record with a time of 15:47.02, which also is the third-best 5,000m
time in Ivy League history. Her closest competitor, Cornell's
Sorna, crossed the line more than nine seconds after her.
Although the women's pentathlon closed out day one of the Ivy
League Indoor Championships, Dartmouth senior Janae
Dunchack had closed the door on her signature event much
earlier. Dunchack won her third-straight indoor pentathlon title,
becoming just the third to accomplish the feat and the first since
Brown's Lindsay Taylor won four in a row from 1998-2001. Dunchack's
total of 3,940 points was the second-most in meet history and the
third-most all-time in League history.
The second and final day of the Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Track
& Field Championships kicks off at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday with
the women's triple jump.
Women's Team Standings
1 . Cornell, 35
2. Harvard, 29
3. Princeton, 26.5
4. Dartmouth, 22
4. Columbia, 22
6. Brown, 12.5
7. Yale, 4
7. Penn, 4
