Track teams perform admirably at Pennsylvania Invite

Hinton, Taylor see success While the Penn men's track team was once again defeating the field at the Pennsylvania Invite yesterday, senior throwers Clarence Hinton and John Taylor were mixing it up with some of the best in the country at the Sea Ray Invitational in Knoxville, Tenn. While there was a sharp difference in the level of competition, the results of both meets served notice Penn is well on its way towards capturing the Heptagonal title. Hinton and Taylor both proved they are among the best in their events at the Sea Ray Invitational. Hinton was able to finish fourth overall, despite having a subpar throw of 173 feet. Hinton thinks it is not a question of if he can compete at the top level, but rather how he competes at that level. "It was great just being in that atmosphere with all of the high-caliber throwers," he said. Taylor placed fifth overall in a field that featured non-college athletes, the defending college champion and the defending American champion. He was able to take only two throws because the groin injury he was recovering from started to act up again. "It's good to know that you are able to compete and beat some of the best guys at the meet despite not being at full strength," Taylor said. At the Pennsylvania Invite, several Quakers distinguished themselves with their performances. In the pole vault, Greg Schroeder finished first with a height of 16 feet, 5 inches, bettering his personal best by eight inches. Schroeder was expected to be pushed by the competition which was strong in his event, and he was. Don Vibbert of Cornell finished right behind him at 16-1. "This performance had been building up for two years," Schroeder said, "and there is still another foot left in there." Dave Davenport qualified for the Intercollegiate American Amateur Athletic Association championships with a performance of 48-8 in the triple jump. Davenport's first-place finish was the seventh all-time best for Penn. Coach Nathan Taylor was pleased with Davenport's performance, saying it is just the "tip of the iceberg." The throws were once again a strength for the Quakers, despite the absence of Taylor and Hinton. Taylor had hoped the other throwers would step up their performances, and most responded to the challenge. Doug Jackson had the best performance, setting a personal record and qualifying for IC4As with a throw of 169-7 in the hammer throw. Matt Spoerndle and Corey Shannon finished second and third in the javelin, while Josh Deines, Lucas Deines and Chris Osentowski swept the top three spots in the shot put. Josh Deines also placed second in the discus with a throw of 152-7.5, which was good enough to qualify for IC4As. Freshman Aaron McCommons set a personal record in the 1,500 meters for the second straight week, but finished second in a time of 3 minutes 54.68 seconds. In the 5,000, Matt Beliveau finished second with a time of 15:28.93 after leading most of the way. Teammate Ross Albert was right behind him in third. The Quakers dominated the sprint events, but many sprinters were not too pleased with their times. In the 200 meters, captain Chris Harper finished second in a time of 21.77 seconds, while Henry Addo and Greg Davis finished in third and fourth. In the 100, Addo and Davis again gained the third and fourth places, but their order was reversed. Carl Eklof's time of 14.93 seconds qualified him for IC4As in the 110 high hurdles, while Jon Yu placed third in the 400 intermediate hurdles with a time of 54.15 seconds. In the 400 sprint Harper and fellow captain Kelsey Armstrong finished first and second respectively. The two later teamed up along with Yu and Jim Primerano on Penn's winning 4x400 relay team, which qualified for IC4As with a time of 3:14.5. Harper ran an anchor split of 46.9 seconds to edge out the Temple runner in a very close race. "I just did not want to lose, and the adrenaline kicked in," Harper said. "The guy was not a bad 400-meter runner, but I made my move at the right time." Next Saturday, Penn faces Princeton and Yale in their biggest tri-meet of the year. The Quakers seem to be nearing midseason form as they head into the difficult part of their schedule. "We can't back off now," coach Charlie Powell said. "We still have four weeks left in the season."