Navy gets runaway win over M. Track

Coming off a long vacation, one would expect the Penn men's track team to face tough odds in trying to overcome Navy and Wake Forest. On Saturday in Annapolis, the sluggish Quakers nevertheless turned in a victory over the Demon Deacons, but were done in by the distance and field events against Navy. Navy won the tri-meet with a score of 154.5. Penn came in second with 105.5 points, while Wake Forest's 95 points rounded out the field. The Midshipmen dominated the field events, taking the first three places in the high jump and the first two in the pole vault and shot put. But Tuan Wreh, Penn's perennial first-place finisher, didn't have much trouble. The junior finished first in the triple jump with a leap of 14.95 meters and followed that up with a 6.75 meter first-place long jump. "I didn't jump personal bests, but I guess I'm always satisfied with winning," Wreh said. "I'll have to step it up in the next few weeks, though." While Wreh scored two first-place finishes, no other Quakers in the field events were able to duplicate his performances, with the closest being Lugman Kolnoe's second-place finish to Wreh in the long jump. The sprinting events were a little better for the Red and Blue. Penn junior Oneil Bryan won the 55-meter hurdles in 7.3 seconds. In the 55-meter dash, Penn junior Gene Sun enjoyed a half-second victory against his closest competitor, finishing in a time of 6.0 seconds. In the 500 dash, Penn sophomore Brian Abram outran the pack and won in a time of 1:06.1. "I'm happy with it," Abram said of his first-place finish. "It was tough after winter break, but I ran well." One of Penn's standout performers was sophomore Sam Burley. In an exciting race, Burley outkicked the pack in the 1,000 meters and won in a time of 2:29.4. He finished 0.04 seconds ahead of Navy's Aaron Lanzel. "I was a bit surprised since it was my first meet back," Burley said. "I was lucky to be in a good group of runners." Burley had a plan to try to stay with the pack and try to outsprint the group at the end. He defeated the strong field with a personal best that was four seconds faster than his previous top time. "Navy has a lot of good middle distance runners," Burley said. "I was lucky to be in such a good group." Other than that, the Quakers were not able to muster much success. Navy took the mile, 800, 3,200 relay and the 1,600 relay - an event that is normally a strong point for the Red and Blue. The Quakers also finished with the last three places in the 3,000 meters. "We're not very happy with the performance," Wreh said. "We need to get in the habit of running well every week." Abram suggested the long winter break had something to do with the performance. "We knew we had to do a lot to match up with Navy," Abram said. "After winter break, we just came out a little sluggish." The Midshipmen seemed to be just a bit more ready for the meet, having run a scrimmage earlier in the week. "We need to get in the habit of competing with intensity and not waiting until Heps [Heptagonal Championships] to do it," Wreh said. The Quakers will get a shot at improving their performances at the Cornell Invitational on Saturday.

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