Dartmouth, Yale, Cornell, and Columbia  have set the standard for this weekend,  setting outstanding conference and nationally-ranked marks in both New York and Boston last night.

BU Terrier Invite:

Abbey D’Agostino of Dartmouth improved her mile time, winning the mile in 4:37.41 at the BU Terrier Classic over Emily Sisson of Providence and Lauren Penney of Syracuse (half mile in 2:19, 3/4 mile in 3:30).  D’Agostino led the top three to finish in under 4:40, which can be seen in the Flotrack video here.  Dartmouth’s Christina Supino (see image) finished 6th in 4:47.60, holding off BU’s Monica Alder.

Cornell’s Katie Kellner placed 3rd in the 5000m in 16:11.38, a time which is not only #2 in the Cornell recordbooks, but also the 2nd fastest 5000m time in the nation as of this morning.  The race was won by Katie Matthews of host BU in 15:52.80 (#1 nationally) as unattached runner Corey Conner came 2nd in 16:02.38.  Princeton’s Alex Banfich came 8th in 16:33.17 and Cornell’s Genna Hartung came 9th in 16:38.32.   Race video found here.

Emmaline Berg of Dartmouth won the shot put by less than 5 inches, winning over Sacred Heart’s Lindsey Aponte (49-9 to 46-4.25).

Other top finishers include:

• Dartmouth’s Alexi Pappas in the 3k (4th – 9:14.75), and Supino, Isabella Terhorst,  Naomi Stahl, and Megan Krumpoch in the 4×400 relay (5th – 3:54.01)
• Yale’s Alexa Monti in the 60m (2nd – 7.78), Annelies Gamble in the 800m (4th -2:10.98, top collegian), Nihal Kayali in the 1000m (2nd – 2:49.67), Emily Urciuoli in the pole vault (6th – 11-1), and Allison Rue, Monti, Jenna Poggi, and Emily Cable in the 4×400 relay (4th – 3:53.95)

Other videos and interviews from the Terrier Invite can be found at Flotrack’s event page.

Metropolitan Indoor Championships:

The Columbia women’s team won their first Metropolitan Indoor Championships last night, winning seven events during the event.  Rookie Waverly Neer won both an individual and relay title, claiming the 1000m (2:52.52) and 4×800 relay (9:14.39) crowns.  Madeline Rathburn, Sophia Harrington, and Mallory Anderson were also on the winning relay team.  The other event wins for the evening were in the mile (Emily Lanois – 4:52.47), 3000m (Aryn Foland – 10:00.99), hurdles (Kyra Caldwell – 8.64), high jump (Monique Roberts – 5-9.25), and triple jump (Nadia Eke – 41-3.25).

More Ivy action will go on today across the region.

Alex Banfich (Princeton) is set to challenge Katie Kellner (Cornell) at the BU Terrier 5k. Perhaps a repeat of this scene (minus the snow)?

FloTrack likes to do “weekly throwdowns” before every weekend to highlight any interesting meet match-ups scheduled for the upcoming weekend.  This weekend, FloTrack listed a number of “hot races” that will have Ivy talent included in them*.  See FloTrack’s hot races below.

*Based on the accepted entries listing.

Boston University Terrier Invite:  (FloTrack coverage)

Men’s 3000 - Lenny Korir (Iona), Erik Van Ingen (Binghampton), Kyle Merber (Columbia), Matt Bayley (Iona), Ben Lindsay (Iona), Mitch Goose (Iona), Dan Lowry (Brown)

Women’s MILE - Stephanie Reilly, (NB), Nicole Schappert (NYAC), Lauren Penney (Syracuse), Abbey D’Agostino (Dartmouth), Emily Sisson (Providence), Jillian King (Boston College), Lindsay Crevoiserat (UConn), Katie Hursey (Syracuse)

Women’s 5000 – Alex Banfich (Princeton), Katie Matthews (Boston U), Corey Conner (Unat), Katie Kellner (Cornell), Hollie Rowland (Iona), Genna Hartung (Cornell)

US Open:

Men’s Shot Put – Christian Cantwell (USA), Adam Nelson (USA), Ryan Whiting (USA), Cory Martin (USA)

Women’s MILE – Anna Pierce (USA), Stephanie Garcia (USA), Lauren Hagans (USA), Brenda Martinez (USA)

Conference action this weekend:

Fri., Jan. 27
Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard & Yale at the Terrier Classic (BU Track Center: Boston, Mass.)
Cornell, Harvard & Penn at the National Invitational (Ashenfelter Track: University Park, Pa.)
Brown at the Reebok Indoor Games (Reggie Lewis Center: Boston, Mass.)

Sat., Jan. 28
Columbia, Cornell, Harvard & Princeton at NYRR Saturday Night at the Races (The Armory: New York, N.Y.)
Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard & Yale at the Terrier Classic (BU Track Center: Boston, Mass.)
Cornell, Dartmouth & Penn at the National Invitational (Ashenfelter Track: University Park, Pa.)
Cornell at the Great One (Spire Institute: Geneva, Ohio)
Harvard at Saturday at Bowdoin (William Farley Fieldhouse: Brunswick, Maine)
Penn at the Wesley Brown Invitational (Wesley Brown Fieldhouse: Annapolis, Md.)

 As now, some updates on some of our Ivy graduates:

• Liam Boylan-Pelt ran sub-4 minutes on Saturday at the New Balance Games at the NYC Armory.  For most of the race, he had high schooler Edward Cheserek drafting off him.  Boylan-Pelt was able to out-kick Cheserek, finishing 5th overall in 3:59.40.  Cheserek just missed the 4 minute mark, finishing in 7th with 4:02.21.  Andy Baddeley of Great Britian won the mile in 3:57.22.  A video of the mile race can  be found at the ArmoryTrack website.
• Ashley Higginson ran well in the Elite Women’s mile at the New Balance Games.  She finished 7th in 4:43.01 (her college best in the mile was 4:45.25 from 2011).  Brenda Martinez of the USA won in 4:39.37.
• Tom Wolf, a former high jumper for Harvard, is now jumping into the literary world.  In April 2012, he will be releasing his first novel, “Sound: A Novel”, which is about a man who dropped out of graduate school to return to his home on the Jersey Shore and finds out home is not what he remembers it to be.  Pre-Orders are available on Amazon.  Wolf was interviewed for the Farrar, Straus, and Giroux literary blog, where he discussed how music, location, and changing environments inspired how his novel was completed.
• Anna Pierce is looking to start her indoor season strong on Saturday at the US Open after a year of rebuilding her immune system (her body wasn’t properly absorbing nutrients after she finished recovering from a parasite in 2008).  Her winter plans include challenging the American 1000m record with teammate Morgan Uceny at the New Balance Grand Prix in Boston in February.

It’s been a very busy weekend in HepsNation, with a few Ivy head-to-heads that suggests how Indoor Heps may play out in 5 weeks.  (Aside: if you’re planning on traveling to Ithaca at the end of February, let us know by signing up at the Facebook Event page)

We’ll do the recap by meet, as there is plenty of overlap.

Ivy action began on Friday night in New York City, as Penn and a Columbia representative competed at the Great Dane Classic.  The Quaker women came 9th out of 25 teams at the Great Dane Classic.  Victoria Strickland was the highest placed finisher for the Quaker women, placing 2nd in the 800 with 2:11.45.  Gabrielle Piper made the finals in both the 60m dash and hurdles, placing 8th (7.73) in the dash and 6th (8.75) in the hurdles.  Lydia Ali placed 4th in the 400 with 57.23 and helped the 4×400 relay place 3rd in 3:50.44.  The other relay members were Leah Brown, Paige Madison, and Renee McDougall.  For the men, Maalik Reynolds tied his indoor best of 7-3 while winning the high jump.  Reynolds attempted to set a new personal best at 7-4 but just missed clearing the bar.  Teammate Ikechi Nnamani placed 5th in the high jump by clearing 6-7.  The DMR team with Michael Cunningham, Brian Fulton, Michael Brown, and Matt Chylak placed 5th with 10:19.21.  Cunningham also placed 7th in the mile with 4:13.25.  Columbia had a single representative compete at the Great Dane Classic.  Kyle Merber set a new personal best that won the 1000m (2:22.52).  That 1000m time bested the meet record that was set by Penn alum Tim Kaijala in 2008 and currently ranks Merber second in the nation.

The greatest amount of Ivy head-to-head action occurred in Hanover, NH as both Dartmouth teams won their annual tri-meet with Columbia (2nd) and Yale (3rd).

For Dartmouth, Abbey D’Agostino (see image) made a great 2012 debut with her dominant win in the mile.  Her time of 4:38.44 is not only an NCAA automatic qualifier (when converted to banked 200m timing, it is #1 in the nation), but it is also a new school record.  A spectator shared on Letsrun.com that the splits were 67-2:21-3:34-4:38.  D’Agostino’s fast pace in the mile helped her teammates Alexi Pappas place second with a 4:44.56 (8th nationally when converted to banked 200m timing) and Katelyn Walker place 3rd in 5:03.74.  The Big Green women also won the 400m (Megan Krumpoch), 500m (Meggie Donovan), 800m (Arianna Vailas), 1000m (Christina Supino), 3000m (Katie Sullivan), and 4×800 relay (with Caroline Buck, D’Agostino, Vailas, and Walker).  For the Big Green men, the sprinters, hurdlers, and high jumpers led the charge as they took top spots in those respective events.  Grant Spalding and Sam Yoder went 1-2 in the hurdles with 8.66 and 8.76 respectively; meanwhile, Connor Reilly, Tyrone DeSpenza, and Brett Buskey went 1-2-3 in the dash (7.00-7.06-7.09).  Yoder came back in the afternoon to win the high jump in 6-5.5, while teammate Jeremy Birck (6-2.25) and Ben Nollet (6-0.5) came 2nd and 3rd respectively. Dom Filiano won the shot put for third meet in row with a heave of 49-6.5.

Conference event rankings are listed at the Track and Field Results Reporting System and are updated as meet results are posted.

It looks like a busy weekend for HepsNation, including the annual Dartmouth-Columbia-Yale tri-meet on 1/21 in Hanover, NH.   Some Ivy alumni are beginning their indoor season this weekend in either Germany or New York City.  The weekend schedule is listed below:

Cornell hosting a Multi I Meet on 1/20 and Upstate Challenge on 1/21

Dartmouth hosting tri-meet with Columbia and Yale on 1/21

Harvard hosting the Harvard Challenge on 1/21, with Brown and Dartmouth multi-eventers

Penn at the Great Dane Classic at the NYC Armory on 1/20

Alumni:

• New Balance Games at the NYC Armory – 1/21

Ashley Higginson and Jesse Carlin will go head-to-head in the Elite Women Mile, while Liam Boylan-Pett will be joining some other sub-4 min/mile company in the Elite Men Mile.  The question is will these elite men lead high school distance phenom Edward Cheserek under the 4 minute barrier with them?  ArmoryTrack.com will be hosting a webcast from 12:55 to 2:55 on Saturday 1/21, which will include the Elite Men Mile at 1:40pm and Elite Women Mile at 2:45pm.

• 12th International Energy Indoor Shot Put in Nordhausen, Germany – 1/20

Adam Nelson will be going against Olympian Champions (Poland’s Tomasz Majewski) and World Champions (Germany’s David Strohl and Americans Christian Cantwell and Resse Hoffa) at this marquee event.  Cantwell is the four-time meeting champion of this gathering.  Expect a intense competition as these men’s 2011 bests are all within a meter of each other.

A lot has changed in how the mile is raced on a collegiate level.  Last year, twenty-two athletes broke the 4 minute/mile barrier during the indoor track season (another 12 runners were within 1 second of breaking that barrier).  Only sixteen of those twenty-two were allowed to run at indoor nationals as a) they had bested the automatic qualifer time of 3:59.00 and b) there were only 16 slots available.  For the 2011-2012 season, the mile automatic qualifying standard has been lowered to 3:57.90 (note: adjustments will be made to the time based on altitude and type of track the time was recorded on).

Back in 2010, Columbia’s Kyle Merber was able to qualify for indoor nationals with his 3:58.52.  Now, he isn’t so sure that 3:58 would be good enough to qualify this year.  Knowing this and that this is his senior year, Merber has been working on his speed work.  He told FloTrack last week when he popped in their Texas HQ that he feels like he has regained and exceeded his fitness level from his sophomore year (he wasn’t able to compete his junior year due to complications from stepping on glass the summer before).

Video link: Kyle Merber Millrose and Oklahoma Transfers

It is likely that Merber will be chasing after the qualifying standard on February 11th, where he will be running in the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games.  Merber is one of five college milers confirmed to compete against pro Matthew Centrowitz (ArmoryTrack.com will continue to release competitors as the race approaches).  Merber has already tasted Millrose Games success as he won the high school mile invitational back in 2008 in 4:13.86 (he rocked the headband back then too, click on the image for the DyeStat race recap).

AP Photo/David J. Phillip

The US Olympic Marathon trials were held this past weekend in Houston, TX, yielding what USATF called “the fastest US marathon races in trials history“.  Five lucky Ivy Leaguers finished, with Cornell’s Max King being the highest finisher in 19th place.  King, who prefers the half marathon technical trail races, had this to say about his race to HepsTrack:

The race could have gone better but I gave it what I had in me on Sat. We kept a fast early pace that I wasn’t sure we could hold and, in the end, it didn’t work out for anyone in the second group. But it’s the Olympic trials so you go for top three and throw any conservative approach out the window. Sometimes you succeed and sometimes you fail. I ended up with a PR [2:14.36] even if I didn’t run as well as I was hoping. It was bittersweet that way.

According to Southern Oregon’s Mail Tribune, King is now setting his sights on making the Track and Field trials in the steeplechase.

The other Ivy League finishers were Zach Hine (31st – 2:16:40), Sage Canaday (43 – 2:18:24), Lucas Meyer (54 – 2:20:21), and Catherine Mullen (62 – 2:43:02).

Update: We received word that Columbia grads Loretta Kilmer and Caroline (Bierbaum) LeFrak also ran, finishing in 2:36:41 (20th) and 2:38:14 (32nd), respectively. Congratulations!

 Update #2: Other finishers inlude former 10K Heps champion from Dartmouth Kristin Barry (83rd – 2:45:43) and current Princeton assistant coach Lisa Baumert (183rd – 2:55:00).  Congratulations!

As always, if there any any other Ivy League finishers that HepsTrack did not originally notice, please let us know so we can add them to the article.

Brown's John Spooney won the 60m in 6.85 at the Sorlein Invitational on Jan 14, 2012.

Every team except for Harvard competed this past weekend across the Northeast region.  Team summaries are listed on the other side of the cut.

Brown:  The Bears traveled to nearby URI to compete in the Sorlien Invitational.  The men had three event winners; John Spooney (60m – 6.85), Nathan Elder (800m – 1:57.74), and Daniel Smith (shot put – 43-8).  Susan Scavone led a 1-2-3 finish in the high hurdles.  Scavone won in 8.89, followed by frosh Jordan DeLoach 8.99 and Nealy Williams 9.51.  The Brown pole vaulters attempted a similar feat, capturing the win (Monica Pechanec – 11-3.75) and tie for 2^nd place (Hanna McPhee and Hannah Wallace – 10-10).  The Bears also won the women’s 4×400 relay while the men’s 4×400 relay placed 3rd.

Columbia:  The Lions began their 2012 season at the West Point Invitational.  Kyra Caldwell was a part of 2 event wins by winning the 400m dash (58.49) and being a member of the winning 4×400 relay.  The 4×400 team of Caldwell, Yamira Bell, Miata Morlu, and Uju Ofoche won in 3:57.98.  Frosh Madeline Rathebun won her debut 500m dash in 1:18.18 while Monique Roberts (HJ), Sarah Engle (PV), and Marvellous Iheukwumere (200) continued their dominance in their respective events.  Freshmen shined for the Lion men, with Daniel Everett winning the 1,000m (2:28.93) and Connor Claflin winning the 500m dash (1:05.00).  Everett was also a part of the winning 4×800 relay with Adam Behnke, Sam Miner, and Harry McFann.  Sophomore Denzel Woode won the 800 (1:57.67).

Cornell: The Big Red traveled to State College, PA to participate in the Nittany Lion Challenge.  Frosh Rutger Admirand was the top Big Red male finisher of the day, placing 2^nd in the 600 with 1:19.25.  John Schilkowski placed 3^rd in a 1,000m race (2:24.89) where the winner, Penn State’s Robby Creese, set a new national junior record 2:19.53.  Steven Bell placed 3^rd in both the long jump (22-11.75) and triple jump (49-6.5) while Stephen Mozia placed 3^rd in the shot put (57-0.25).  The Big Red women dominated the 3,000m run, taking six of the top seven places.  Juniors Katie Kellner and Genna Hartung went 1-2 with 9:34.32 and 9:41.57 respectively.  Cornell also went 1-2 in the DMR in near identical times.  The A team with Alyssa O’Connor, Molly Glantz, Janel Parker, and Emily Shearer won in 11:56.52.  The B team with Meghan Brown, Ryan Woolley, Lauren Lloyd, and Dale Kinney was right behind the A team, running 11:56.72.

Dartmouth:  The Green men won their second meet in as many weekends, narrowly edging out Maine, 64-62, in their quad meet that also included Vermont and RPI.  The men won seven events, including the final event, the 4×800 relay.  Junior Jacob Evanter edged out a RPI hurdler, 8.45-8.46, to win the high hurdles in what was called the closest finish of the meet.  Sophomore Dom Filiano won the shot put (51-11.75) and placed 2^nd in the weight throw (47-3.75). The Green women won eight events en route to winning their quad meet against Maine, Vermont, and RPI.  Dartmouth showed their dominance in the shot put by claiming the top six spots, with Emmaline Berg (44-9) leading the way.  Frosh Cathy Liebowitz (51-0.25) won the weight throw while fellow frosh Meggie Donovan won the 500m (1:18.02).

Penn: The Quakers started their 2012 season in NYC, competing in the Saturday Night at the Armory against 14 other teams.  The men Quakers came 4^th with 59 points, behind Princeton (134), Rutgers (115), and Hampton (97).  Sophomore Maalik Reynolds continued his high jumping dominance by being the only competitor who cleared 6-11.75.  The 4×800 relay team of Brian Fulton, Thomas Tallerico, Connor Jaramillo, and Robby Harwood won their event in 7:29.49.  Their time is currently the 2^nd fastest time in the IC4A.  For the women’s portion of the meet, the Quakers placed 3^rd (105.5) behind Connecticut (163) and Hampton (113).  Victoria Strickland was the only Quaker event winner.  Strickland won the 1,000m run in 2:55.14 while teammate Veronica Salcido came 2^nd in 2:56.52.  The 4×400 relay squad of Strickland, Renee McDougall, Paige Madison, and Shakele Seaton set a new league best time of 3:49.34.

Princeton: The Princeton men won the first Saturday Night at the Armory with 134 points over 14 other teams, which included Rutgers (2^nd – 115), Hampton (3^rd – 97), and Penn (4^th – 59). Tom Hopkins continued to show his versatility by winning the 60 hurdles in a new personal best of 8.32, edging out frosh teammate Rob Mohr (8.34).  Hopkins later placed in the 400m, 48.33.  Junior Peter Callahan attempted to break the 4 minute barrier in the mile, but came up short with 4:03.76 (Callahan came close in 2011 when he ran 4:01.03 at the NYU Team Challenge).  The Tigers also won the 1000m (Bradley Paternostro, 2:28.98), 3000m (Chris Bendtsen, 8:12.88), pole vault (David Slovenski, 16-10.75).  The women stayed in Princeton and won their quad meet with 195 points, besting St Johns (119), Rutgers (108), and St Josephs (100).  The Tigers won nine of 17 events of the day, with senior Eileen Moran winning both the 60m (7.71) and 200m (25.18) dashes.  All-American Alex Banfich began her indoor campaign by dominating the mile in 4:53.35.

Yale: The Yale teams hosted the non-scoring Yale Invitational, in which 15 other teams participated.  The Eli men focused on their middle distance squad, winning the 800m (Christopher Ramsey – 1:57.34) and mile (Julian Sheinbaum – 4:16.46).  Matt Levine placed 2^nd in the weight throw with a heave of 54-10.25 while the 4×800 team of John McGowan, Charlie Jaeger, Tim Hillas, and Michael Pierce came 3^rd in 7:46.64.  Lindsey Raymond (mile – 5:04.51), Alexa Monti (60m – 7.84), Anneleis Gamble (800 – 2:18.85), and Emily Urciuoli (PV – 11-9.75) won events for the Yale women’s team.  Freshmen Anna Demaree (mile – 5:07.53) and Catherine Shih (PV – 11-3.75) both placed 2^nd in their respective events.

The date of January 12, 2010 will forever be a historic day for the country of Haiti.  On that day, a catestrophic 7.0 earthquake hit the developing country, leaving 1.6  million Haitians homeless and causing over $2 billion in damages.  At least 220,000 people lost their lives that day.  Millions of dollars in relief came into the country from across the world, with hopes that they can help.

Last Thursday marked the 2-year anniversary of that natural disaster.  Since the earthquake, Haiti has been trying to rebuild while combatting problems from cholera and national politics.  Many relief groups are still going into Haiti to help from the earthquake, but the international focus has since shifted away from the country.

Harvard alumni Samyr Laine plans to bring the focus back to Haiti this upcoming summer.  Laine has represented Haiti for the last two years while finishing up law school at Georgetown.  Now that he has passed the bar, Laine’s next goal is making the trip to London wearing the Haiti red and blue uniform.  Laine talked to BBC Sports earlier this month about what it means to represent Haiti and his upcoming goals.

“[Haitian athletes] are able to have a lot larger impact in terms of what we can do for Haiti, the children of Haiti, the people back in Haiti. Even our small successes become big news in Haiti, which means a lot…

I feel I have the ability to make some noise in London. Whether that’s as a finalist or top five or just jump far enough to open some eyes even if I don’t get a medal, I feel like London is going to be pretty good for Haitian athletics.  My goal is to make [Haiti] proud out there next summer.  Just going there, competing well, being in the final, so that people can look at me and smile and know that I put my best foot forward for the country.”

If Laine does medal this summer, it would be Haiti’s first Olympic medal since 1928.

Update: On January 17th, Laine spoke with Alexander Britell of the Caribbean Journal about what it would mean to win a medal for Haiti:

“Doing it for Haiti, the first medal, period, since 1928, that would be huge. Even though we’ve had teams in almost every Olympics, we haven’t been on the podium. Just to let people know what the island can produce, and get people enthusiastic – I feel like it would give them a lot to aspire to. I went last year [to Haiti] and a lot of the kids at the orphanage I went to didn’t know what the Olympics were – that’s a little bit depressing – we take it for granted on what people are exposed to. I feel like a medal would expose children on the island to a lot more, and the future of Haitian athletics would be bright. I think for the Haitian people as a whole, it would brighten their spirits. So I feel like a medal, that would really have a huge impact. It would also put Haiti in the news for something other than the earthquake and any other maladies that the country experiences on a regular basis. The country was in the news for such negative things, and it would be great to have some good press for once, and also to let people know that people in Haiti still need help, but it’s not all bad – even if I’m just one person and one medal.”

On December 21st, USATF named the Team USA for the Bupa Great Edinburgh Cross Country – International Challenge on Jan. 7, 2012.  The race features athletes from USA, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and other select European athletes. Princeton freshman Eddie Owens was named on the Junior Men Team USA due to his 2nd place steeplechase finish at the Junior Pan-American Games in July 2011.

On Saturday, Eddie competed in Edinburgh on a very muddy cross country course that featured wooden hurdle logs and water pits, where he came 4th overall.  Team USA teammate Kirubel Erassa won the 6k race in 19:54, 14 seconds ahead of Eddie.  Team USA won the Junior Men team championship (16 points) over Great Britain and Northern Ireland (26) and Europe (48).

Eddie had this to say about the experience:

“The race was definitely a unique experience. The course was really muddy and that was what caused the slow times, even though it wasn’t particularly hilly. I wasn’t sure going into the race how our US team would stack up and how competitive I would be individually. But once the race started, I put myself in the main pack and stayed there as it got whittled down to four.  I fell back a bit with Kirubel Erassa and stayed in 4th for the entire last lap while Kirubel caught up to and passed the two British kids [Mark Shaw and Kieron Clements] who had gotten ahead. Once I finished, I looked back and saw a bunch of USA guys finishing and I immediately knew we had won the team title which I was very happy about. Overall, it was a good race for me and for the team and hopefully is a sign of good things to come in the track season. The whole team USA experience is truly amazing. I can never understand why anyone would ever pass up a chance to represent the US in competition as it is the highest honor and never fails to be a great time.”

For more photos from the event, check out Michael Scott’s online album.