M. Track warms up for final

According to the old adage: Practice makes perfect. But teams can only stand to practice so much before they get bored or complacent. For the Penn men's track team, tomorrow's meet at Franklin Field will serve much the same purpose of a practice. The coaches will try to get everyone a good workout, and at the same time, give them a chance to compete and continue to prepare for the big three meets at the end of the season. "To put it in plain English so it is easy to understand, it is like a midterm," coach Charlie Powell said. "This weekend and last weekend are like two midterms where you have to study if you want to do well on the final." The final for this squad will consist of three parts -- Heptagonals, IC4As and the NCAA national meet. Penn only has several weeks to buckle down and get ready, which is why this meet is so important. "This is what's called a tune-up meet," coach Powell said. "They are very necessary." Just because the teams coming into Franklin Field tomorrow are not the best, don't think the Quakers will not see any competition. Among the crowd will be three Division III all-Americans from Haverford, two NCAA qualifiers from La Salle and the same 4x400-meter relay team from Temple that beat Penn last weekend. The Quakers know their marks and times will not be the best, which is OK with them. They understand that in order to prepare effectively for the future, they will have to toy around a bit and try some new things. With a meet against Ivy-rivals Princeton and Yale next weekend, and Cornell the following week, the team must seize the chances it has. Being home for the second week in a row makes it easier on the Quakers by not having to travel. Unlike other sports where you can single in on one thing to work on such as man-to-man defense, track does not afford one that luxury. Events are being run on the track and in the field at the same time with more than 60 athletes participating. "It's like a three-ring circus out there," Powell said. "We just want to use the competitive atmosphere to experiment a little." Penn must not look past this meet if it wants to pass its tests at the end of the season. Qualifying and improving a seed should be enough to get a good team motivated. If it is not, the team shouldn't have been admitted to a school with such high standards.