Track teams start quickly

Costanza pleased with Women The season got off to a fast start for the women's track team. At Navy Friday and Lafayette Saturday, the Quakers showed their coach and their competition they will be a force to be reckoned with this season. For both of the invitationals Penn only sent sprinters and field specialists, giving its distance crew another week to rest for this week's meet at George Mason. Beginning with the Navy Invitational, "everyone that we took performed outstandingly," Penn coach Betty Costanza said. A highlight for Penn was the sprint combination of Dawn McGee and Daria Smith, who came in 1-2 in the 55-meter dash. McGee turned in a personal best of 8.21 seconds. Other sprinters placing in the top five in their events were Adria Ferguson and Michele Satine in the 500, Kelley King in the 200 and Stephanie Hunt, Melanie Cafe and Jessica Mitchell in the 1,000 meters. In the long jump, freshman Kim Mason placed first with a distance of 18.5 feet. Freshman Lisa El placed fourth in the long jump and second in the triple jump. Mason and El were just two of the freshmen who impressed Costanza. "For their first competition I thought they responded really well," Costanza said of her freshmen. "They were very competitive and handled the competition well. In general their composure impressed me." At Lafayette, Penn performed equally well, placing in the top five in almost all its events. Once again the freshmen displayed their talent. Aquiyla Muhammad, Julia Denisenko and Shana Black had key performances. Muhammad, who had never competed in the triple-jump before, placed first. Denisenko had her personal best in the long jump with a distance of 16.5 feet. Black ran the 55 meters in a time of 7.44 "against some really tough competition," according to Costanza. Other notable performances from the Lafayette meet were Nuru Hunter and Chrisann Sevoian. "They had outstanding meets. They were doing all multi-events and they placed top five in everything," Costanza said. Costanza enjoyed what she saw at both invitationals. "I think the kids are excited," she said. "They see their potential and now we will be moving on and hopefully what we are looking for is consistency. This weekend at George Mason we want to see performances just as good as this weekend, if not better. "Our captains, Kelley King and Angie Jimenez, are both juniors. Basically this past weekend they led through their own performances, which is important because we have such a young team."