W. Track has letdown at EECACs

The Penn women's track team sent six representatives to the East Coast Athletic Conference championships March 5-6. Despite its successful performance the week before at the Heptagonal championships, the results at the ECACs were dismal. Angie Jiminez, Jenee Anzelone, Maggie Morrow, Nicole Maloy, Dawn McGee and Daria Smith were only able to manage one point between them. This earned Penn a tie for 33rd place with Rutgers and St. Joe's. "In general we felt that we could have done better," senior co-captain Nicole Maloy said. "They were just flat. That's about the only way I can say it," Penn coach Betty Costanza said. Costanza added one reason for the disappointing performance was the letdown coming off the Heptagonal championships the week before. The Heptagonals are the biggest meet of the season, so it was difficult for the athletes to psych themselves up again for another meet. Maloy agreed. "We were coming right off Heps. That's the peak of the season, and we really don't think far ahead of that," she said. Many of us weren't prepared for the ECACs, or focused." Morrow added the Penn contingent wasn't able to rise the way it did the previous week at Heps. One bright spot was Angie Jiminez's performance. She finished sixth in the pentathlon, giving Penn its only point. However, Costanza, who felt Jiminez could have done better, had expected a fourth-place finish. The competition was fierce, with the top athletes from Maine to Virginia invited. In the 5,000-meter race, Morrow, who won many races during the season, finished one second short of her personal record. Her time was still not good enough to place in the event. Costanza emphasized she was not dissatisfied with the result of the meet. "It wasn't a disappointment. The meet lacks luster. I'm just glad they got to go and got the experience," she said. She added that for many schools, the ECACs are their conference championships. In those schools, the athletes were as fired up as the Quakers were the week before for Heps. Up next for the team is the outdoor track season. Costanza hopes it performs as outstandingly as it did during the indoor track season. She felt finishing third at Heps was a big accomplishment. Assistant coach Tony Tenisci was also satisfied looking back on the season. "We had a hell of year. These kids were remarkable. This is just the icing on the cake, but we had an extraordinary season," he said.