Jan. 8, 2010

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy men's track and field team returns to action this Saturday afternoon when it hosts Ivy League foe Princeton in a dual-scored meet at the Wesley A. Brown Field House.

The action is scheduled to get underway with the 35-pound weight throw, beginning at 11:00 a.m., while the running events will commence with the non-scored, 5,000-meter run.

Saturday’s dual will mark the Midshipmen’s first competition in over a month’s time, following a layoff of 35 days for finals and semester break. It also continues a stretch of six consecutive home meets Navy will host to begin the 2009-10 indoor slate.

The Mids got off to a fast start in its opener (the Navy Invitational on Dec. 5), producing five IC4A marks, two individual event victories and nine top-three finishes. Matthew Evers (So., Bellevue, Neb.) and David Ash (Jr., Williamston, Mich.) both delivered IC4A-qualifying efforts in the 800 to build upon what has been a promising start to the track season by Navy's half-milers.

For his efforts, Evers was recognized as the Patriot League/M-F Athletic Track-Athlete of the Week – the first such honor of his career Read more about Evers collecting his first weekly league certificate here.

Indoor team captain Mark Van Orden (Sr., Morris Plains, N.J.) also took home top honors in the 35-lb. weight throw with an IC4A-qualifying toss of 55-3 (16.84m), while the Mids' DMR (Morrison, Fanning, Roy, M. Lethbridge) and 4x400 (Jackson, Ash, Connelly, Evers) tandems were also clocked in ahead of the IC4A standards.

Navy also saw encouraging efforts from Joshua Houston (So., Daphne, Ala.) and newcomer Miles Snelgrove (Fr., Lebanon, Conn.) in the jumps, among others. Click here for a full recap, results and photo gallery from Navy's season-opening meet.
 
The visiting Princeton squad should be no stranger to Annapolis after visiting the Wesley A. Brown Field House to compete in a pair of meets a year ago. On January 10, the Tigers captured 10 of 17 events to claim first amongst a five-team field that included Penn, American, VCU and, of course, the host Midshipmen. Two weeks later, Princeton returned and put forth another impressive showing at the inaugural Wesley A. Brown Invitational meet.

The Tigers are the owners of three still-standing Field House records (Click here to see the current WBFH records) with two of those athletes in senior Eric Plummer (Shot put: 58-3¾; 17.77 meters) and sophomore David Slovenski (Pole vault: 16-9½; 5.12 meters) returning to compete on Saturday.

Both Plummer, Slovenski and senior Justin Frick (high jump) won their respective events at last year's Ivy League Indoor Championship. Expect Plummer, the Tigers' senior team captain, to put up some big numbers in the shot put after reaching the NCAA provisional standard in the team's season opener, throwing 18.31 meters (60'1").

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NAVY VS. PRINCETON
Wesley A. Brown Fieldhouse
United States Naval Academy
Annapolis, MD

Saturday, January 9
Field Events
11:00 am     Weight Throw
12:00 pm     Long Jump, Pole Vault
                   Shot Put follows Weight Throw
                   Triple Jump follows Long Jump
                   High Jump follows 60m Dash

Running Events
12:00 pm     5000m Run (non-scored)
12:20 pm     Mile Run
12:30 pm     60m Hurdles
12:40 pm     400m Dash
12:50 pm     500m Run
1:00 pm       60m Dash
1:10 pm       800m Run
1:20 pm       1000m Run
1:30 pm       200m Dash
1:40 pm       3000m Run
1:55 pm       4x400m Relay
2:05 pm       Distance Medley Relay

Entry limits: Three (3) Individual entries per team/event, One (1)
Relay entry per team/event, Dual Scored Meet, Individual Events: 5-3-2-1, Relay Events: 5-3, Field event competitors will advance to the finals, provided they have a legal mark in the preliminaries.

## GO NAVY! ##