M. Track pleased with St. Valentine's Invite results

In its last warm-up before the championship meet season, the Penn men's indoor track team competed Saturday at the St. Valentine's Invite in Boston. The Quakers' performance against track powerhouses Florida, George Mason and Morgan State confirmed their ranking as the ninth best indoor track team in the country. The ranking is derived from a national power poll through a compilation of the top performances by teams in each event. The ranking is a reflection of the Quakers' dedication to building a strong all-around team. "Based on the performances at the meet," Penn assistant coach Nathan Taylor said, "our rating should shoot up this week." Junior captain Chris Harper had the best showing of any Quaker at the meet. Harper, a provisional qualifier for the NCAAs, set the Penn indoor record in the 400-meter sprint with a time of 47.71 seconds, breaking Jeff Hill's mark of 47.74 set in 1983. Amazingly, Harper's time only placed him ninth overall, as the meet featured several of the top 400 runners in the country. Penn gained another IC4A qualifier in the 400 as Clive Brown lowered his season-best time by more than two seconds, finishing in 48.13 seconds. Brown was one of several new IC4A qualifiers for the Quakers. Sophomore Neil Riordan, who qualified in the 1,000 in a previous meet, ran the 800 in a personal indoor best of 1 minute, 53.7 seconds to reach the qualifying standard. Fellow sophomore Matt Wilkinson qualified in the 3,000 with a time of 8:28. Junior Al Symonette joined Riordan as a qualifier in the 1,000 with a time of 2:29.2. In the high jump, junior Dave Rechtweg cleared a height of 6 feet, 9 inches, qualifying him for IC4As. He finished in third place, one spot behind teammate Aric Shalev. Both jumpers are continually challenging the Penn Indoor record of 7-0, and Rechtweg had several near misses at that height Saturday. "They definitely push each other," Taylor said. "Part of succeeding in track is whom you train with." The Quakers also placed well in the pole vault, claiming the top three spots. Sophomore Dan Short cleared 15-0 to win the event, while junior Greg Schroeder finished second by matching Short's vault. The top showings by the Quakers were surprising, considering Penn was coming off a tough week of practice. As Penn moves into the championship season, its practices will focus more on technique. "My main concern going into Heptagonals is to have the athletes put together top technical efforts at top speeds," Taylor said. The main focus of the Quakers' training the next two weeks is attaining season bests at Heps. In the past, about eighty percent of Penn's athletes have had their best meet of the season at Heps. The same will have to be true this season if Penn intends to defeat No. 6 Princeton in two weeks.