M. Track uses Terrier Classic to gain 6 berths for IC4As

The Penn men's indoor track team viewed Friday's Terrier Classic as a chance to compete against some of the top teams in the east. The Quakers also hoped to gain a few more IC4A qualifiers due to the intense competition. Penn ended up with a half dozen new qualifiers, while also making a strong showing with several top finishes. The best Quakers performance of the meet was turned in by junior Greg Schroeder. His vault of 15 feet was good enough for first place, even though the height was not his best of the season. The vaulting conditions at the Terrier Classic are considered poor. This resulted in lower vaults by all the competitors. "The runways there are raised and wooden," Penn coach Charlie Powell said. "They tend to be very bouncy and throw people off." Junior Aric Shalev had Penn's other high finish in the jumps, placing second in the high jump with a height of 6 feet, 9.75 inches. Shalev's jump was his best of the season and qualified him for IC4As. NCAA provisional qualifier Clarence Hinton continued his strong season, placing fourth in the 35-pound weight throw with a distance of 59-11.5. Hinton's performance came against some of the top throwers in the country. The Quakers also received high placings from their sprinters. Sophomore Greg Davis ran a season-best time of 6.41 seconds in the 55-meter sprint. His time placed him sixth in the meet and qualified him for IC4As for the second straight year. Junior captain Chris Harper finished fifth in the 200 with an IC4A-qualifying time of 21.96. Harper's performance could have been better, but he was called back after his original start when his blocks slipped. "My second start was not as good the first one," Harper said. "I wasn't as focused in the beginning, but once I got moving, I finished well." Penn had four new IC4A qualifiers among its distance runners. Junior Alvarez Symonette ran the mile in 4 minutes, 15.6 seconds, the Quakers' fastest mile time of the year. Sophomore Matt Wilkinson and freshman Ross Albert both qualified in the 5,000 with times of 14:42 and 14:43 respectively. Sophomore Neil Riordan's time of 2:29.4 qualified him in the 1,000. The performances by the distance runners are extremely important because distance events are the strength of Penn's next opponent, Princeton. Indoor meets place a lot of emphasis on the middle distance events, so the Quakers will face a difficult challenge in beating the Tigers. "We'll need to be almost perfect to beat them," Powell said. "We'll also have to double back, which is something they won't do because of their depth." Penn's other concern is getting back several of its top runners who have been out with injuries or illness. Captain Joe Hall and sophomore Jim Primerano are just coming back after missing the start of the season. Captain Kelsey Armstrong missed Saturday's meet with a leg injury. The return to form of all three will be key to the Quakers chances of winning the year-ending Heptagonals championship.