M. Track limps into the Heptagonals

Penn hopes to challenge Princeton, despitePenn hopes to challenge Princeton, despitenagging injuries to Stiffler and Anderson The Penn men's track and field team travels to Dartmouth this weekend, hoping to maintain the success it has had in recent years at the Heptagonal Championships, the end-of-the-season tournament involving the eight Ivy League schools, as well as Navy. "We've finished second at Heps three of the last four years," Quakers assistant coach Nathan Taylor said. "If we're able to do that again under the current circumstances, it would be very satisfying." Several of last years Heps champions will attempt to defend their titles. Penn junior Greg Davis won the 55-meter dash at the 1995 indoor Heps and has the sixth-fastest time in the East this year, at 6.40 seconds. Senior Chris Harper won the 400-meter championship at last year's meet, and senior Dave Rechtweg had the best high jump. The Quakers' 4x400-meter relay squad also took the gold in its race. Penn is ranked No. 8 in the nation going into this year's championships, three places below Princeton. The Tigers easily defeated the Quakers three weeks ago at Princeton's Jadwin Gymnasium. It was the only showdown between the teams so far this year. Freshman jumper Stanley Anderson is Penn's only top seed going into Heps. He is favored in the triple jump, in which four of the top five seeds are Quakers. Despite setting a personal best with a jump of 49 feet, six inches earlier this season at Navy, Anderson has been bothered by tendinitis in his left knee recently. He was unable to compete in the triple jump at the St. Valentine's Invitational at Boston University two weeks ago, but he plans to participate in both the triple jump and high jump at Heps. "I haven't been working on the high jump in practice because it hurts my knee too much," Anderson said. "I've been icing my leg, and it's starting to feel better." Another Penn athlete who has been bothered by nagging injuries lately is sophomore sprinter/jumper Mike Stiffler. Stiffler, who ran the first leg for the 4x400-meter relay team that set the school indoor record at Boston University, strained his hip flexor in the triple jump competition earlier in the meet. "Obviously, it didn't hurt at the meet, because we broke the record in the relay," Stiffler said. "But it hurt so bad this past Monday that I could hardly walk. I haven't done any running this week. I don't usually compete in the triple jump, but I'd done it before and Coach put me in to pick up a few extra points for the team." Stiffler plans to participate in the long jump, 400-meter dash and 4x400-meter relay at Heps. Other highly seeded Quakers going into this year's meet include freshman Robin Martin in the 500-meter race, junior Neil Riordan in the 800-meter and junior Chris Osentowski in the shot put. Despite the plethora of injuries, Penn still likes its chances at Heps. "I expect that every athlete on the team is going to give it everything he's got," Taylor said. "I think we'll definitely give Princeton a challenge."