Harper leads M. Track, defends 400 title at Navy

The Penn men's indoor track team competed at Navy and Lafayette this weekend in its first meets of the season, hoping to get an idea of where the team is at the beginning of the season. The Quakers received several key performances by veteran members, and also some surprising efforts by previously untested freshmen. On Friday, half the team traveled to Annapolis where it competed in an unscored meet against fifteen other teams. Penn was very competitive in most events and shined in a few. Sophomore Carl Eklof placed second in the 55-meter hurdles with a personal best time of 7.66 seconds to qualify for the IC4As. Junior Chris Harper got off to a fast start in defending his Heptagonals title last year in the 400 by winning the event with a time of 49:14 seconds. Harper also participated in the second-place 4-by-400 relay team, which also included Eklof, Kelsey Armstrong, and freshman Mike Stiffler. The relay team qualified for the IC4A championships, but the members of the team will probably change before the year is over. "There are a lot of guys eager to fill those spots," assistant coach Nathan Taylor said. "There are six guys who will be competing for one spot, but that can only make us better." Penn made a strong showing in two distance events, which could be the key to the season. Senior Joe Hall placed second in the 5,000 with a time of 14 minutes, 40 seconds, while sophomore Neil Riordan placed second in the 1,000 with a time of 2:31. The biggest surprise of the meet was the performance by freshman shot putter Lucas Deines. In his first college meet, Deines had a shot put of 48 feet 10 inches, which placed him second. Deines looks to follow in the footsteps of his brother, Josh, who qualified for the junior nationals last year as a freshman. "It was a pretty significant throw for a first meet," Taylor said. "He is only about a foot away from qualifying for junior nationals, something that very few people accomplish." Deines tried not to set any unreasonable goals for the meet. The freshman did want to throw at least 45 feet, but did not expect to do as well as he did. "My expectations for the season have changed now," Deines said. "Before I was hoping to hit 50 ft by the end of the indoor season, but now I'm trying for 52 feet." The remaining Quakers traveled to Lafayette on Saturday to compete in their first meet of the year. The Quakers who competed Saturday had the benefit of an extra day's rest, and their performances reflected it. Penn placed very well in several events at the meet against eight other teams. In the 300, junior Henry Addo recorded a very fast time of 32.2 seconds to finish in second place. Freshman Kael Coleman was right behind Addo with a time of 32.6 seconds for a fourth-place finish in his first college race. The Quakers dominated the 55-meter dash, claiming five of the eight top spots. Sophomore Greg Davis finished in second followed by freshman Tyson Murphy in third and sophomore Jon Yu in fifth, with all three recording a time of 6.2 seconds. Sophomore Roger Beckwith and Addo also placed. Both finished in 6.3 seconds. Davis' performance was a solid start to a season which he hopes to finish by running in the NCAA championships. After qualifying for the IC4As last year as a freshman, he has set his sights even higher this year. "I've grown a lot as a sprinter over the last year in terms of experience," Davis said. "I think that I am definitely capable of qualifying for the NCAAs." Yu, a junior national qualifier last year, placed second in the long jump. Freshman Dave Davenport continued the strong showing by the members of his class by winning the triple jump with a leap of 45'10''. Taylor was pleased with the overall results for both meets, and believes that the team has gotten off to an impressive start. He did notice a disturbing trend during the meet on Friday. "As a coach, you look at people to do things better from the technical point of view," Taylor said. "There was more reverting to what felt comfortable rather than what is technically correct by the runners who had less rest." The Quakers will have off until January 14th when they run at Navy again in one of the more important meets of the season. This weekend's performances put the Quakers on the right path in their quest for the Heptagonals title.