Track teams overcome weather

Women excel at West Point Invite In a weekend overshadowed by the men's basketball team's victory at Princeton, the women's indoor track team had a victory of their own, a moral victory. The Quakers overcame two weeks of horrible weather conditions to shine at the West Point Invitational Saturday. In one of the season's preparatory meets for the Heptagonals, which is held during the last week of February, Penn turned in a surprisingly excellent performance. The meet was highlighted by a first place finish by junior middle-distance runner Jenee Anzelone in the 1,000 meters and in the 4x400-meter relay. Anzelone, who was originally supposed to compete at the Boston Invitational Saturday to run against an elite field of half-milers (800 meters), ran in the 1,000 meters for only the second time in her career. Going into the race, she was apprehensive about the longer distance, and was only concerned with running a good half mile. "I've only run it once before in my life," Anzelone said before the meet. "I'm not sure of the pace, I guess I'll go out slower and run a good half." In addition to Anzelone's first-place finish, another outstanding performance was turned in by the mile-relay team. Sophomores Tonya Sherrod and Jamila Northington, junior Mildred Jennings and freshman anchor Adria Ferguson improved the season's previous best time by 13 seconds. More importantly, this clocking was good enough for the Quakers to get a seed for the Heps. "We just ran really really well," assistant coach Tony Tenisci said. "It was incredible since we could hardly break 4:10 before." This huge improvement was enhanced by the fact that Northington, a sprinter, was competing in only her second indoor-mile relay ever. Eight days ago at Princeton was the first time she ever ran in the event. "It reminds us," Northington said, "we still have it in us to do what we have to do." It was an encouraging meet as well because Penn was able to rebound from last weekend's disappointing meet at Princeton. "Everyone was outstanding," Tenisci said. "It was very exciting to see everyone come back from a not so great meet last week." Northington continued to shine by turning out two additional outstanding performances. She came in third in the 55-meters, and set a personal record in the 200. She placed second in the 200-meters by a photo finish. However, the score sheet will show that her 25:23 clocking is identical to the first place finisher. The decision came down to a "1000th of a second." Although more Penn fanatics will remember this weekend as the Saturday that the basketball team beat Princeton, this should be a weekend to remember when it comes to all of Penn athletics. "All of the Ivies were really impressed," Tenisci said. "We had a good weekend all around, with wrestling and basketball."