Track and field is a sport that rewards team versatility. Distance runners and sprinters alike are rewarded for their individual talents.
With that said, there is nothing versatile about Penn’s outdoor track season itself.
Featuring only a few weeks of preparatory competition followed by the famed Penn Relays and Heptagonals, it is unequivocally a sprint. And after getting out of the blocks a bit slow, the program is now hitting its full stride.
This weekend, the Quakers followed up a strong performance in their largest meet of the year so far— the Raleigh Relays — by competing in another relatively large meet, Princeton’s Sam Howell Invitational.
Performing at home, Princeton largely stole the show, finishing the weekend with five winners of individual events.
As a young and relatively inexperienced squad, Penn may not be on the level of the Tigers just yet. But the Quakers were also able to put together some strong individual performances themselves.
Penn first got going in the short sprints, accruing two runner-up finishes in the 110-meter hurdles courtesy of senior Gabrielle Piper and sophomore Ben Bowers .
The Quakers continued their short-distance success with another second-place finish, this time from senior Lydia Ali — the program’s top sprinter — in the 100 m.
Junior Tom Timmins picked up a fourth-place finish in the 400 hurdles, adding on to several other strong times from the Quakers in the men’s and women’s 400m and 100m .
The Quakers were able to pick up their first win of the weekend in the men’s 4x400m relay, which posted an outstanding time of 3:17.
Senior high-jumper Maalik Reynolds followed up a victory in last weekend’s meet with a runner-up finish in this weekend’s high jump, followed immediately by sophomore Thomas Pitt .
Penn’s throwers were largely able to keep up with the strong pace they have set for themselves thus far this season, highlighted by senior Jim Tully’s and sophomore Sam Mattis’ wins in the javelin and discus throws, respectively. Mattis’ throw was the first in school history of over 60 meters .
In addition to other performances, freshman multi-event athlete Noel Jancewicz continued her impressive rookie campaign with a third-place finish in the high jump.
The Quakers decided to rest their long distance runners for the most part, so sophomore Thomas Awad did not get a chance to follow up his school-record run in the 5000m from last weekend.
He and other distance runners will need to wait until next weekend at the George Mason Invitational to get that chance.
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