M. Track lets all run in meet

Every once in a while, an opportunity to get the entire team involved comes along. And while coaches and athletes generally prefer to compete against strong opponents, the chance to experiment and get young guys some experience is important. That's exactly what the Quakers worked on this weekend as they hosted the Quaker Invitational at Franklin Field. "It gave us the opportunity for a lot us to run," co-captain Kelsey Armstrong said. "Not many of us went to North Carolina last weekend, and it let us see what guys could do." A trio of freshmen -- Doug Jackson, Matt Wilkinson and Okinyi Ayungo -- impressed and mildly surprised the coaches with their performances. Jackson, who qualified for Junior Nationals last weekend with a throw of 142 feet, threw 10 feet further Saturday to break into the top five hammer throwers under 19 years old. Wilkinson finished second in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 31 minutes, 8 seconds, which qualified him for Junior Nationals and IC4As. "It is an excellent time for a freshman," assistant coach Nathan Taylor said. "It was impressive." Junior Brett Albert finished right behind Wilkinson, giving Penn a surprising second and third showing. Ayungo placed second in the long and triple jumps, recording personal bests in both events. Luckily for the Quakers, the guy that placed first in both events was teammate Randy Simmons. In the discus, the Quakers again earned first and second place. Junior Chris Hinton (first place), who is third all time in the Penn record books, was joined by classmate Dan White, whose throw moved him into fifth place all time. "I am trying to experiment with my form and I had a lot of fouls, so the marks are encouraging even though they are not where I wanted them," Hinton said. "By the end of the season, I will be where I want to be." The Quakers also recorded their fastest time of the year in the 4x100- and 4x400-meter relays, even though they could have been better. Because the meet started late, all 14 relay teams had to run in one heat in the 4x400. The logjam caused Armstrong, who ran the leadoff leg to get boxed in and fall behind. He compensated, and by the time he handed off, Penn had first and did not relinquish it the rest of the way, finishing with a time of 3:14.45. "They didn't run anywhere near their fastest," Taylor said. "And if Kelsey did not get bumped, they probably would have finished at 3:11." Overall, the Quakers finished the meet with 234 points, giving them an easy victory. Cornell was more than a 100 points behind in second place. "There were only a couple of small things I was not happy with," Taylor said. "But when you have a 100 kids competing, there are bound to be a few who do poorly." Things aren't expected to be perfect this early in the season but the Quakers look like they have plenty of talent and depth for the main meets late in the season.