M. Track faces best in the East at IC4As

After an impressive second-place finish at the Heptagonal Championships last weekend, the 14th-ranked Penn men's indoor track team hopes to cap off its season with a strong performance at the Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association of America championships at Princeton this weekend. The competition at the meet will be top-notch, with the best teams in the East featured. The Quakers enter at a disadvantage, having competed in their league championship last weekend. Most teams at IC4As have had a week off between meets. George Mason, from the Colonial Conference, and Georgetown, from the Big East, will likely challenge for the top spot at the meet. Although the Quakers will be scored as a team at the meet, the main focus of the meet shifts to the individual. IC4As are the last chance for each runner to set a personal best and possibly qualify for the NCAA championships. "The meet falls at a strange time for us," Penn coach Charlie Powell said. "It's right after Heps and in the middle of midterms. The team championship is not something that we go hard after." Still, several Quakers may come home from the meet with medals. NCAA provisional qualifier Clarence Hinton has a good chance at making the finals in the 35-pound weight throw after setting a personal best last week at Heps. Unfortunately, many of the top throwers in the country are from the East, and it will be difficult for Hinton to claim one of the top spots. Junior captain Chris Harper, the Heps champion and a NCAA provisional qualifier in the 400 meters, has decided not to run that event at IC4As. Instead, he will run in the 200, an event in which he has not had much opportunity to compete this year. Harper is hoping to get a good speed workout by running in the shorter-distance race. Harper will still run in the 4x400 relay, as Penn will attempt to break the school record of 3 minutes, 15.52 seconds. Joining Harper on the team will be senior captain Kelsey Armstrong, junior Clive Brown and sophomore Greg Davis. Another relay race of interest will be the distance medley. Powell has put together a talented but young team he hopes will gain experience at the elite level. Freshmen Chris Cross and Aaron McCommons will be joined by sophomore Carl Eklof and junior Kurt Sprowls on the team. Sophomore Neil Riordan will race in the 800 meters, hoping to pick up on some of the strategy that is used by runners at the top level. "You have to get used to running at an all-East level," Powell said. "You have to know what to expect." As the IC4As close out the indoor season, Powell is eagerly looking forward to the start of outdoor season. He believes the outdoor team could be one of the best he has coached since becoming head coach at Penn eight years ago. This year's team could rival the teams that won back-to-back outdoor Heps championships in 1992-93. "If I could make it be April now, I would." Powell said. "I have a very good feeling about the outdoor season."