TigerBlog will be at the field hockey game at Columbia Friday night after missing the team's last two and in the process ending a streak of having attended 73 straight.
Princeton had a record of 55-18 in those 73 games, for a winning percentage of .753. On the other hand, the Tigers were 2-0 last weekend without him, for a winning percentage of 1.000. Perhaps he should stay away?
The last time he had missed a game prior to last weekend was the second game of the 2022 season, when he had to escort the freshmen back to Princeton for orientation after they had played the first game of the year at the annual opening event, which that year was at North Carolina. He (and they) missed the 2-1 loss to Louisville.
When he looked at this year's schedule and saw that Princeton would be in New York on Oct. 30, he thought that he might be able to do a doubleheader of Heps cross country in the morning/early afternoon and then a few hours later the field hockey game. That would have worked out perfectly had the cross country championships been at van Cortlandt Park, which is only a two-mile walk to where the field hockey game will be.
As you may recall, Heps cross-country is one of TB's favorite annual events on the Ivy League calendar. It's intense competition mixed with a party atmosphere that draws a huge crowd every year. It would be perfect, no?
Alas, when he looked closer, he saw that Heps this year will be held in Attleboro, Mass. And on Saturday. Oh well. TB hates to miss it.
By the way TigerBlog knows little about Attleboro except that once when he was driving through he stopped and found a surprisingly good bagel place.
The Heps meet will be held at the Mark Coogan Cross Country Course at Highland Park, on land that formerly was the Highland Park Country Club. The club went out of business in 2018 and sold the land to the town of Attleboro, which received a large gift to preserve the area as a spot for running, hiking, biking and walking.
Since 2019 it has been the home course for Brown, which is in Providence. If you're wondering, it's about twice as far from Brown to the cross country course as the race itself is.
The Princeton men come into the race as the five-time defending champion. They are also the second-highest ranked Ivy League team in the current USTFCCCA at No. 24, trailing No. 16 Harvard. No other Ivy school is in the Top 25, though Cornell is 30th if you count others receiving votes.
Princeton is third in the Mid-Atlantic Region rankings, behind powerhouses West Virginia and Villanova. Penn is seventh in the region; Harvard and Dartmouth are 2-3 in the Northeast Region.
Any guesses as the top five in the national poll? TB did not do well with his own guesses of Northern Arizona, Oregon, Texas Tech, Illinois and Oklahoma State. The answer, in order: New Mexico, Oklahoma State, Colorado, Alabama, BYU.
His guesses for the women: North Carolina State, Oregon, Northern Arizona, Villanova and Wisconsin. How'd he do? BYU, NC State, West Virginia, Florida, Northern Arizona. He did a little better at least.
The Princeton women have won two straight Heps cross country titles as they head to Attleboro. The Tigers are the only Ivy team in the top 32, coming in at No. 28 in Division I.
Regionally, Princeton is third in the Mid-Atlantic, behind West Virginia and Penn State. The Northeast Region has five Ivy teams, led by Harvard at No. 5.
Maybe the lure of Heps is the immediacy of it. The basketball seasons that begin next week will take months to crown a champion. The same is true with the fledgling hockey seasons.
In cross country? You need to be ready for the opening gun, and 20 minutes later, there will be champions.
Or maybe it's the color. It's the fall, so there will be leaves of different shades. There are eight teams with eight different uniforms.
Or maybe it's the party. There will also be eight tents, complete with pretty much any kind of food choices you could want.
Either way, Heps cross country is always something special, wherever it's held. Unfortunately for TigerBlog, it's being held far from Columbia, instead of a short walk.
He will miss it.
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