Young M. Track gains experience

What's the first thing that a group of talented but green athletes needs? Experience, of course. How did the men's indoor track team get some? Coach Charlie Powell sent teams consisting mostly of freshmen to two separate events over the past weekend, the Navy Invitational on Friday and the Lafayette Invitational on Saturday. Only five returning lettermen competed for the Quakers during the weekend. Many of the upperclassmen had undergone heavy training loads and weren't ready to compete, according to assistant coach Nathan Taylor. And since athletes are allowed by the NCAA to enter only 18 indoor and outdoor events, other Quakers sat these competitions out in hopes of participating in future contests. "It was an opportunity for freshmen to get experience and an opportunity for me to see the freshmen compete, since I've never seen them compete before," Taylor said. A number of the freshmen competed well, turning in strong performances. At Navy, freshman Carl Eklof did an excellent job, finishing second in the 500 with a time of 1 minute, 6.8 seconds and second in the 55-meter high hurdles with a clocking of 7.84 seconds. "I didn't know what to expect. It was the first time I had ever run indoors," Eklof said. "I was very surprised. I thought I did pretty well. I was very happy." Sophomore David Rechtweg finished second in the high jump at Navy with a jump of 6 feet, 8 inches. But perhaps the most significant performances were those of freshmen James Primerano and Neil Riordan in the middle distances. Primerano won the 800 in a time of 1:56.9, and Riordan finished second in the 1000 meters. "[Primerano] got to a point with about 200 meters to go and put the pedal to the metal and destroyed the competition," Taylor said. The efforts of Primerano and Riordan could be important because the middle distance races were cited before the season as the Quakers' possible weak spot in their hopes of winning the Heps – where those races play a large factor. Primerano and Riordan may have proved on Friday that they are ready for the big time. On Saturday, another group of Quakers took part in the Lafayette Invitational. They also did very well, with several top-three finishes. Freshman John Yu was the only Penn winner, with a leap of 23-2 in the long jump. Freshman Greg Davis ran second in the 55-meter dash with a time of 6.3 seconds. In the 55-meter high hurdles, freshman Phil Wade placed second with a time of 7.7 seconds. Freshman Steve Guillen placed second in the 600 meters in 1:15.7, and fellow freshman Dan Short was second in the pole vault with a vault of 14 feet. Another freshman, Randy Simmons, was third in the triple jump with a leap of 45-3. Taylor appeared satisfied with the team's effort over the weekend. "I was very encouraged by a lot of stuff I saw," Taylor said. "There weren't any super performances by anyone, but I wouldn't expect any super performances at this point. It's a long season. We have a long time to go before guys have to be at their peak."