If Heps Were Held On Paper…

We warned you we were going to do this after the weekend. We took the updated performance lists, applied Ivy scoring in the events that will be contested at Indoor Heps and now we are giving you the results.

First, yes it is too early to do this because not everyone has competed in some of the less-frequently contested events. Yes, there are athletes racking up points that they couldn’t compile in a single meet. Yes, some athletes have yet to peak. Yes, it is unfair to compare because the teams have been competing on differing tracks that yield different results. Yes, apples are not oranges.

We agreed with all of that and, yet, it does not stop us from doing it. And, in brief, make your plans for the Armory now because it will be fiercely competitive. (By the way, 500 people have said they are coming, when will you join them?)

On the men’s side, thanks to a remarkable weekend for the Princeton Tigers, there has been a flip at the top. Heading into the weekend, Cornell had a wide margin, but now Princeton has shuffled the deck. Here are the new men’s pre-Heps results as of the end of January:

1. Princeton, 200; 2. Cornell, 183; 3. Dartmouth, 85; 4. Penn, 49; 5. Columbia, 23; 6. Yale, 22; 7. Brown & Harvard, 13.

For the women, we reported last week that it would be close. We know that Princeton will dominate the distance races and, possibly, the throws, but will Columbia be able to outbattle Cornell in the sprints and jumps to claim its first title? Will Cornell find enough points across the board to upend both of them? Here’s how it looks today:

1. Princeton, 129 3/4; 2. Columbia, 128; 3. Cornell, 107 1/4; 4. Dartmouth, 51; 5. Brown, 46; 6. Harvard, 26; 7. Penn, 20; 8. Yale, 19.

Flame away!

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Give The Kid A Shot

I think had I ever done it, I might have been a decent shot putter. I say that because running and jumping were never in my repertoire, so if I had to choose, it would have been easy. I’d have been a thrower.

I used to lift weights regularly and discovered that I had a strong upper back… and shoulders. Working out in the fitness center at Dillon Gymnasium on Princeton’s campus, I used to find myself sharing the downstairs Hammer Strength equipment with several Tiger athletes. What made them struggle on the seated row machine and the military press came easy to me.

Already in my 30s, it made me wish I’d been a thrower in my youth. I was at Barton Hall one year, the afternoon before Indoor Heps. No one was in the cage and a shot put was just laying there. So I gathered it up and without any rotation, wearing a dress shirt and boots, flung it with most of my might. And it wasn’t too bad. One of the Heps’ coaches, and I can’t recall whom, witnessed it and was impressed. Even wondered if I’d thrown in college.

Unfortunately, I didn’t really find track and field back then. It found me. I took a job at Penn 20 years ago and became embedded in the Penn Relays. And I have loved track and field ever since. I love that whatever your starting point, you get out of it what you put into it.

I wish more kids found their way to the nearest track coach. That’s why I love what has happened at the Armory in Washington Heights, where next month’s Indoor Heps will take place. That building, the vision of Dr. Norbert Sander, has propelled thousands and thousands of kids to find the nearest track coach. Thanks to the Armory, track and field participation has grown exponentially in New York City in the last two decades. I plan to write more about the facility in the coming weeks.

And I am also pleased to report that track and field — known as athletics elsewhere on this planet — is the biggest growth sport in all of England. Not by a little either. Check out this piece from Andy Haylett, a research manager at Ipsos.

Hopefully the surge will uncover the next great thrower.

Your Ticket To Manhattan

I just got off the phone with folks at the Armory and I have some information regarding tickets for the Indoor Heps Championship, scheduled for Feb. 26-27.

There will be neither a pre-sale for tickets nor reserved seating at the Championships. One of the things we all know about Heps is that the athletes, fans and alumni from each school love to sit together, so the Armory has taken heed. Buy a ticket, sit with the folks from your favorite Ivy school.

There will not be a two-day ticket either, simply a daily ticket that can be purchased for $15 for adults and $8 for students with IDs.

Update: I have gotten a few emails that have expressed concern about the price of the tickets. Please consider that the Indoor Heps Championship is a 12-hour event, which means each day is the equivalent of about three basketball or soccer games. That’s three times the personnel expense and three times the facilities and operating costs. The ticket income will also help fund some wonderful Armory service and educational programming. Is it more expensive than a typical Heps event held on campus, where costs can be contained? Yes. Is it worth it? Absolutely.

For a tentative schedule, directions, links to the official tourism sites and much more, please click here. Also, take Alicia Keys’ word for it — New York will inspire you, make you feel brand new.

A Change Has Come

Things change. And that is a very good reason to pay close attention to the schedules around the League.

There were initial conflicting reports on Harvard’s weekend schedule. When I put up the composite schedule earlier this year, I got a call telling me that Harvard was not competing in the Saturday Night at the Races, sponsored by the New York Road Runners, even though the Crimson website told a different story. Turns out, Harvard will be at the Armory, but it will be tonight as a participant in NYU’s Gotham Cup.

So here is the amended schedule for the weekend. Note that Penn was initially scheduled to compete with Cornell at the Penn State Northeast Challenge, but now will head to the Armory for the Saturday night festivities.

Friday, January 14
Harvard at the NYU Gotham Cup (The Armory: New York, N.Y.)
Brown women at Sorlien Invitational (Mackal Fieldhouse: Kingston, R.I.)

Saturday, January 15
Columbia and Penn at the NYRR Saturday Night at the Races I (The Armory: New York, N.Y.)
Brown men at Sorlien Invitational (Mackal Fieldhouse: Kingston, R.I.)
Cornell at the Penn State Northeast Challenge (Ashenfelter Track: University Park, Pa.)
Dartmouth hosts Vermont and Maine (Leverone Field House: Hanover, N.H.)
Yale hosts the College Invitational (Coxe Cage: New Haven, Conn.)

If you have a good story or photo from the weekend, let us know.

National Venue News

There is news on two national championships for the future.

First, the Tribune-Star of Terre Haute, Ind., is reporting that the 2011 NCAA Cross Country Championships could very well return to Indiana as opposed to heading to Oregon for the first time ever. The NCAA has yet to announce a site, but it had appeared that the University of Oregon had the inside track to host the event. Now teams are already booking rooms at the Hilton Garden Inn in Terre Haute instead. A final decision will be handed down by the end of the month.

Craig Pearson of the Tribune-Star wrote:

According to a report in the Eugene Register-Guard last month, the University of Oregon planned to hold the races at Portland Meadows. That site, according to a source in the report, was unacceptable to the NCAA due to the gambling motif at the horse-racing facility.

“We thought we had an answer, obviously we had to re-assess … Oregon was unable to secure a site,” [NCAA Track Committee Chairman Todd] Patulski said.

Elsewhere, the shoe company New Balance has announced a multi-year partnership with the National Scholastic Sports Foundation (NSSF) and the New Balance Track & Field Center at the Armory in New York City to bring a unified premier indoor high school event — the New Balance Indoor Nationals — to the host site of the 2011 Heps Championships. In fact, the Championship will take place two weeks after Heps (March 11-13).

“We are delighted that New Balance and the National Scholastic Sports Foundation have joined to bring a true unified National High School Championship here to the Armory,” said Armory President Norb Sander. “It will be a great meet with a wonderful setting for our student-athletes from across the country.”

“We are excited to partner with both New Balance and the New Balance Track & Field Center at the Armory for this meet,” said meet director Jim Spier. “We recognize the passion and commitment both entities bring to high school running and are eager to work together. Now having one indoor high school championship means that the most talented student-athletes in the country will be competing head-to-head in one unified meet, which will bring this event to new unprecedented levels.”

Get your tickets soon!

Indoor Heps: Wanna Help ‘Pack The Track?’

On Feb. 26-27, all eight Ivy League schools will gather at The Armory in Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood for the 64th Heptagonals Indoor Track & Field Championships and we can all aggressively look to raise awareness and attract spectators.

The simple way to participate is to sign up for the Facebook event page and invite others to do the same by clicking “Share” just under the event title. This is your meet, help make it unforgettable. Let people know that the Armory is a great place and the last time Heps was contested there, eight meet records were broken. Let them know that the subway runs from Penn Station to about a block from the track. Let them know that New York is their kinda town. Once they sign up, we will take it from there to help entice them.

Also, it is worth mention that in a five-weekend, seven-event stretch between mid-January through mid-February, every Ivy team will venture to the Big Apple to test-drive the fast surface of the world-class banked track.

The League will be well represented at all three Saturday Night at the Races series sponsored by the New York Road Runners. Columbia and Harvard will be on hand for the kickoff event on Jan. 15. Frequent Ivy contenders Cornell and Princeton will take to the track on Jan. 29 with a strong field to include Mississippi State, Maryland, Virginia and Villanova. Brown, Columbia and Penn will compete in the final Saturday challenge on Feb. 12.

One the Saturdays in between, Yale, Columbia and Dartmouth will square off on Jan. 22 and Columbia will join a national field for the New Balance Collegiate Invitational on Feb. 4-5. That showcase meet will feature the likes of Abilene Christian, Arkansas, Baylor, BYU, Georgetown, Hampton, Houston, Kansas, LSU, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Portland, South Carolina, Southern Cal, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, UCLA and Villanova. Click here for a preliminary time schedule.

Penn will also run in the Great Dane Classic, which will be hosted by the University at Albany on Jan. 21, and the hometown Lions will battle in the city’s renown Metropolitan Championships on Jan. 29 in advance of the Saturday night event.

Then comes the biggest event of the year — the Heptagonal Championships! Click here for the full indoor-season schedule.