Track teams must shine this vacation

Men compete in IC4A championships Intercollegiate Amateur Athletics Association of America. The Penn men's indoor track team competes in the IC4A championships tomorrow and Sunday at Princeton. With such an imposing name, the event is guaranteed to be one of the more significant meets of the Quakers' season. Indeed, the IC4As has a lot of history behind it. "[The IC4A] is a loose organization of about 100 colleges primarily from the northeast, but it goes as far south as North Carolina and as far west as Indiana," assistant coach Nathan Taylor said. And before the creation of the NCAA, the IC4As held an even greater significance. "From 1890 to 1930, this meet was the national championship," Taylor said. While the meet no longer holds that distinction, the IC4As is still one of the biggest meets on the Penn track calendar. Competing in the event is an honor in itself -- all entrants in every event must have reached or surpassed qualifying standards during the season. This year, 23 Quakers entered in 12 events will be among the nearly 1,000 athletes journeying to Princeton. The competition is fierce, with performers fighting desperately to qualify for the NCAA meet, held one week later. "It's a deceptive meet," Taylor said. "Those athletes that have already qualified for the NCAA won't be competing. But there are those athletes that are just on the bubble that will run. And there are a lot of guys there that can really run fast. This is clearly the best competition Penn sees each year, indoor and outdoor." With all of the excellent athletes competing in a field with so many strong teams, hopes of a Quaker win range from slim to none. But the team is not concerned with winning, Taylor said. "I don't think we have a realistic shot of winning the meet. If we finish in the top 20, we've done well," he said. "We're contesting it to have our athletes get their best performances of the year in their specialties." If any Quakers put together strong enough personal bests, they might have a shot at the all-east team, which consists of the top eight finishers in each event. But even that will be difficult. "It's going to be very tough," Taylor said. He pointed out that in sophomore Chris Harper's event, the 400-meter dash, "the best guy's time coming in is two seconds faster than [Harper's] best time. So you're not talking about any slouches." One might think by facing such strong opposition with little chance of victory, Penn would have problems getting excited about this weekend. But judging by sophomore Greg Davis's reaction, that is definitely not the case. "I haven't been running too well this year," Davis said. "I'm going more for the experience. I'm going to see what I can do." The same could be said about all the Quakers this weekend. They'll see what they can do at one of the most prestigious meets of the season.