Track & Field Rewrites History Books at Outdoor Heps

Best of 2010: Kyra Caldwell Named Most Outstanding Performer at Outdoor Heps

Track & Field Rewrites History Books at Outdoor Heps

5/9/2010 6:00:00 PM | Track and Field

By: Columbia University Athletics

PRINCETON, N.J. - The Columbia track & field team had a banner day at the 2010 Ivy League Heptagonal Championships Sunday, as the Lions had seven individual Ivy League Champions and two relay teams win Ivy League titles as well. Sophomore Kyra Caldwell was named the meet's Most Outstanding Female Performer, and the women's team finished with the highest point total in program history.

Caldwell was the most decorated member of the Lion squad Sunday, as she won two individual titles and a relay title, setting two new Ivy League records in the process. In her first event of the day, Caldwell won the 100m hurdles with ease. The sophomore, who had set a new school record in the event Saturday (14.00 seconds), finished in 14.03, nearly half a second ahead of her competition. Just an hour later, Caldwell added more hardware to her collection, winning the 400m high hurdles. Caldwell led throughout the event, and came in more than half a second ahead of the field, at 58.24, a new Ivy League meet record, and a new Columbia school record as well. The old Ivy League meet record had been set by Joanna Helm of Navy in 2000, and stood at 58.44. Her time of 58.24 also puts her 20th in the nation in the event. Capturing both hurdle titles was also a noteworthy achievement: Caldwell became the first double hurdles champion since Olympian Brenda Taylor did it for Harvard in 1999.

Caldwell wasn't the only Lion to earn an individual title Sunday. The 2010 Indoor Heps Most Outstanding Performer of the Meet, sophomore Sharay Hale also had a standout meet for Columbia. Hale earned the fourth individual Ivy League title of her career, and her second outdoor, as she won the women's 200m dash. Half of a second separated Hale and her opponents, and it was enough, as she took the top spot with a time of 23.83 seconds. Hale also had a strong showing in the women's 100m dash, where she took second place by a hair, coming in at 11.73, just one hundreth of a second from claiming the title.

Jacqueline Drouin claimed a title of her own in Princeton this weekend, as the junior won the 1500m run with a time of 4:32.11, for the first individual Ivy League championship of her career. Drouin also had an outstanding showing in the women's 3000m run, as she came in second overall, in 9:49.89. Sophomore Monique Roberts also claimed a first: her first outdoor high jump championship. Roberts, who had won the indoor title this February, won with a final height of 1.73m (5'8”), which she got on her second attempt.

Other strong performances for the Lions on the women's side included first-year Yamira Bell, who took second in the 400m dash in 54.88, senior Serita Lachesis, who finished third in the 800m run, first-year Caroline McDonough, who took third in the 5000m in 16:45.25, and junior Julianne Quinn, who placed fourth in the 3000m steeplechase in 10:30.27. In the relays, Columbia had two strong showings: the women's 4x800m relay team, who finished third in 8:57.46, and the women's 4x100m relay, who set a new school mark. QueenDenise Okeke, Uju Ofoche, Jocelyn Briggs and Hale took third in 46.51, breaking the old record of 46.80, set back in 2008.

But the highlight of the day for the women's team was the last event of the day: the women's 4x400m relay. Caldwell, Bell and Hale teamed up with first-year Ofoche to take a run at the title. And not only did they win the title, they demolished the field in the process, and rewrote the record books. Caldwell led off for the Lions, and established a lead early on. Bell, who ran second, managed to keep the lead, and increase it to about 100m heading into the handoff. Ofoche ran third, and maintained the dominant lead that her teammates had established early on. And with Hale running anchor leg for the Lions, the race was over as soon as she had the baton firmly in her grasp. Hale, who ran a 52.7 split, took the 100-meter lead she and increased it to nearly half the distance of the track on the way to securing the title. The final team time was 3:35.69, which shattered every record the Ivy League had seen. The time broke the old meet record, of 3:39.51, which had been set by a Cornell squad in 2006, and it also broke the all-time Ivy League best time, which was 3:36.04, set in 2005. The time was the 17th fastest 4x400m time in the nation, and also more than four seconds faster than the nearest competition.

On the men's side, there was much to celebrate as well. Kyle Merber got the ball rolling for the Lions in the 1500m run, as the sophomore won the event in dominating fashion. Merber came in at 3:54.63, besting the field by three seconds, and adding another medal to his collection. Columbia senior William Ballenthin closed out his career in the 1500m race as well, taking fourth overall in 3:58.33, and first-year Mark Feigen scored points as well, coming in sixth, in 3:58.98.

Junior Jeff Moriarty earned his first Ivy League championship title Sunday in the men's 800m run. Moriarty, who was joined in the finals by teammates Matthew Stewart and Mike Mark, was in the front of the pack from the beginning, but didn't make his move until the final curve. There, Moriarty passed Penn's Darryll Oliver, and Yale's Chris Labosky, and flew down the straightaway. The junior crossed the line in 1:48.29, beating the rest of the group by almost two seconds, and clinching first-team All-Ivy League honors. Stewart and Mark both performed well, earning points for the team effort. Stewart came in fourth with a time of 1:50.45, while Mark placed sixth in 1:51.79. Senior Robert Hartnett also scored points for Columbia Sunday, when he took fifth in the men's 5000m run, in 14:29.65.

Mark, Stewart, Merber and Moriarty also combined to win the first-ever 4x800m relay event at outdoor Heps. Mark led off for the Lions, and set the tone early, as he went ahead of the pack right from the start. Though some competitors passed Mark in the beginning of his final lap, Mark rallied and finished his Columbia track career well in first place, handing off to Stewart. Stewart, who ran with a smile on his face throughout, stayed well ahead of the group, and finished with a successful handoff to Merber. Merber managed to hold his group, though both Penn and Dartmouth had started to chip away at the lead, and were threatening the Lions. Merber handed off to anchor Moriarty, and midway through the first lap, the field opened up. Moriarty went well ahead of the group, and in the second and final lap for that leg, Moriarty was on his own, running against the clock. With the win, and a time of 7:31.00, the Lions set a new meet record, finished over four seconds ahead of every other Ivy League team, and clinched the first-ever 4x800m title in Heps history.

To wrap up the outstanding day of performances for Columbia, Caldwell was named the meet's Most Oustanding Female Performer by the coaches of the Ivy League. And additionally, the women's team finished the day with 129 points, the highest total in school history, and good for third place overall.

Up next, the Lions will tune up for the NCAA regionals with performances at the 1CAAAA/ECAC championships, May 16-17, which will take place in Princeton, N.J.

Complete results from the 2010 Ivy League championships are available here.