M. Track qualifies members

As any sports team opens a new season, it can be plagued by many question marks. In the case of the Penn men's track team, however, the coaching staff knew exactly who its top guns were. Only traveling with 23 athletes, the Quakers qualified a majority of them for the two big meets at the end of the season, the IC4As and the NCAAs, in its first competition of the season. "I think the meet went very well," coach Charlie Powell said. "It was worth the trip because of the number of athletes we qualified for IC4As." Perhaps the most outstanding show of the meet was displayed by junior John Taylor. He tossed the javelin a school record 277 feet, 10 inches, landing him a first-place medal. The throw should move Taylor up in the national rankings. Going into the meet, he was ranked 10th in the country and already qualified for nationals. Co-captain Kelsey Armstrong qualified for the IC4As in the 400-meter run. Later in the day, he teamed with sophomores Chris Harper, Henry Addo and Clive Brown in the 4x200-meter relay, coming less than a second short of the top spot. The Quaker 4x100 relay team of Addo, junior Mark Pan and freshmen Greg Davis and John Yu earned a trip to the IC4As as well. Two of Penn's freshman came up with with outstanding individual performances. Doug Jackson qualified for junior nationals, the world's best under 19 year olds, in the hammer toss while classmate Carl Eklof qualified for the IC4As in the high hurdles. "Junior nationals is a major accomplishment," assistant coach Nathan Taylor said. Luckily for Penn, the meet was non-scoring. While the weather did not effect the track, the pole vault and high jump, two of the Quakers strongest events, were hampered by the rain. "In general, I was pretty happy," Taylor said. "But we need more guys ready to compete at a higher level this weekend. The guys have to want to do better." With many of the individuals reaching the IC4As, the Quakers can accomplish their main goal for the opening weekend of the season. But a only a trip to nationals will satisfy their desires.