The 138TH IC4A/31st ECAC Meet at Princeton University Recap

By Elliott Denman 

(19-May) PRINCETON, N.J. - It merely took 74 years for the University of Pittsburgh to win back the IC4A (Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America) men's track and field title it last held in 1940. Those 1940 Panthers did it by rolling up 29.5 points to edge out 25 other scoring teams.

Inflation, of course, has set in. That 1940 meet was scored 5-4-3-2-1. Now it's 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1. And the IC4A field has expanded, too. Seventy-two teams took part in the 138th edition of the nation's longest-running collegiate meet Friday-Saturday-Sunday (May 16-17-18) at Weaver Stadium. Even with some IC4A teams sitting out key performers, there was plenty of excellence to go around.

But the Panthers' squad of 12 men led them all, powered by such individual standouts as freshman Desmond Palmer (the 400-meter hurdles champion in 51.50), Brycen Spratling (200 winner in 20.72), Carvin Nkanata (100-meter runner-up in 10.45) and Micah Murray (400-meter third-placer in 46.81). Nkanata had set the IC4A 200 record of 20.32 here last year; he dropped down to the 100 this time to work on his early acceleration.

Add two solid relay performances - second in the 4x100 (40.39) and fifth in the 4x400 (3:09.01) - and Coach Alonzo Webb's Panthers were over the top.

"We were outnumbered by just about every team here, but we knew we had quality," said Webb. 

With 74 years between IC4A crowns, the big irony is that it may take years and years more for Pitt to have a shot at repeating.

And just why?  The constant rounds of (football and basketball-designed) conference reshufflings, that's why. Pitt is now a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (along with IC4A regulars Syracuse and Boston College) and it's almost sure that the 2015 ACC Championships will be held on the third weekend of 2015, thereby in direct conflict with IC4A scheduling.

It was likely an IC4A farewell, too, for Rutgers and Maryland. Both move into the Big Ten for 2015 and the Big Ten title meet is invariably held on the third week of May as well. 

Indeed, the first IC4A Meet was in 1877; preceding the birth of the Modern Olympic Games by 19 years. Coach Webb had to be reminded that Pitt's last IC4A win was 74 years distant.  

"Wow. I really didn't know that," he said. "So winning this time is even more meaningful."  

Webb - resplendent in brown dress suit and tie, long recognized as perhaps best dressed coach in college track - has led the Pitt program for the past six years and been on the staff for six more.  

On the other hand, Connecticut's overwhelming win in the concurrent 31st annual  ECAC (Eastern College Athletic Conference) women's championships was a clear case of - in the epic words of Yogi Berra - "deja-vu all over again." 

UConn won it going away, netting 85 points to easily win over runner-up Harvard (46), third-place Hampton (40), Boston U. (39), Cornell (39.5) and 52 other schools that broke into the scoring column. Connecticut won it last year with 73 points, after prior wins in 2008-9-10. Only Duke wins in 2011 and 2012 interrupted the Huskies' spree and Duke didn't compete in this one. 

It may have been a familiar story to UConn fans but it was an all-new delight to interim head coach Clive Terrelonge.  

He's been interim coach since the retirement of veteran coach Bill Morgan in January and looks forward to the time, not too far distant, that they remove the word "interim" from his title. 

"Yes, that certainly would be nice," he said, all smiles. "These performances today should help prove my point."  

He's quite an honored athlete in his own right - as a two-time Jamaica Olympian, and three-time NCAA Division III 800 titlist and two-time 400 winner for Lincoln University of Pennsylvania. The Huskies broke it open in a startling 20-minute window of opportunity on Sunday.

It began with the Taylor Anderson-Celina Emerson-Deysha Smith-Jenkins-Nyanka Joseph foursome's 45.23 win in the 4x100 relay.  It rolled on with Brigitte Mania's 4:22.19 triumph in the 1,500 meters; Celina Emerson's 52.86 400 victory; and the Lisa Zimmer-Ana Groff-Laura Williamson-Faith Dismulke team's 8:39.67 win in the 4x800.

In the field, Odrine Belot added eight more UConn points with her 43-00.25 triple jump, a single centimeter shy of Christina Epps's winning effort of 43-0 1/2 for Coppin State.

"This is the best Sunday I've ever seen at the ECAC Championshps," raved Terrelonge. Of course, there was glory in it for far more than the Pitt men and the UConn women. 

Top single performance in the women's contest was New Zealander Julie Ratcliffe's meet-record 226-8 hammer throw for host Princeton, demolishing the prior ECAC best of 209-0 by Lafayette's Ashley Harbin in 2008. And Ratcliffe continued her unbeaten season heading - with all these top IC4A and ECAC performers - into the NCAA East Regionals May 30-31 in Jacksonville, Fla.  

LIU's  Eric Williams-Brendon Rodney-Dannish Walker-Khan-Tyquan Dukes sprinted off with the IC4A 4x100 relay final in 40.24 after Pitt led the prelims in 40.48.  

It was all-orange in the 110 high hurdles final as Syracuse's Donald Pollitt (13.93) edged Bucknell's Christian Lupica (13.94). Matt McDonald excited home fans with his 29:3.86 10,000-meter win for Princeton. UConn went 1-2 in the IC4A decathlon with Jesse Chapman (6,825 points) and Samuel Smith (6,662). Freshman teammate Craig Hunter led the pole vault field at 17-04.5.

Cornell junior Steve Mozia, already a Nigeria internation competitor, retained his IC4A shot put title (at 62-02.5) but was edged by Penn's Sam Mattis in the discus throw (198-4 to 197-10).

Monmouth's red-hot all-underclass 4x800 team of Andrew Langille-Domenick D'Agostino-Alex Leight-Dylan Capwell fought off LaSalle and Georgetown to take the eight-lapper in 7:23.56. The New Jersey Hawks had won the 2013 IC4A 4x800 in  7:35.54.  

In an exciting finale on the track, George Mason (3:07.91) fought off  LIU-Brooklyn (3:08.71) and Hampton (3:08.73) to claim the 4x400.

Back in the field, Hampton's Stefano Nardini (230-11) nosed out Robert Morris's Chris Carper (230-7) and Monmouth's McLean Lipschultz (222-6) for the javelin crown, and Manhattan took a gold with freshman Love Litzell's 212-5 hammer win.

Rutgers' Corey Crawford, already the American Athletic Conference indoor and outdoor champion in the long jump, added the IC4A title to his collection with a span of 25-11.5; RU teammate Emeka Eze took the silver at 25-1 3/4.

UConn's Sajia Bikanova (5,352) outscored Vermont's Brittany St. Clair (5,272) for the ECAC heptathlon gold. 

The aptly-surnamed Allison Barwise of Harvard cleared  6-00.75 to lead the high jumpers. Another Harvard winner was freshman shot putter Nikki Okwelogu (49-02.25). Monmouth's Mariah Toussaint (19-11 3/4) beat Hampton's Teiara Denmark (19-11.5) and Rutgers' Gabrielle Farquharson (19-11) in a long jump competition decided by minuscule margins.

Virginia Commonwealth's Kiara Porter blazed to a an 11.60 100 win; Maryland-Eastern Shore's Gayon Evans (23.23) edged Britanny Johnson of St. Francis, Pa. (23.32) in a tight 200. William and Mary's Elaina Balouris (9:10.41) ran away from the 3000 field - UConn's runnerup Lauren Sala was on the other side of the track as she crossed the line.   

IC4A Meet Administrator Steve Bartold's bottom line: "We had 72 schools and 720 entries, which I think is pretty good; there's still a lot of life left in this meet."   

File Photo: Gregg Armstrong for ArmoryTrack.com