Success does not follow M. Track to Princeton

The up-and-down season the Penn men's indoor track team has been experiencing continued this weekend. After cruising past the rest of the Ivy League at the Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden Friday, the 4x400-meter relay team joined the rest of the Quakers at Princeton Saturday. But Penn's success at Millrose did not translate into a win over the Tigers. The 4x400 relay squad of sophomore Mike Stiffler, senior Clive Brown, freshman Robin Martin and senior Chris Harper won the Ivy League competition at the Millrose Games with a time of 3 minutes, 24.88 seconds. Although their winning time was six seconds slower than the foursome's time at the West Point Invitational last week, the difference could be attributed to Madison Square Garden's smaller track. "We ran just as well as we did at West Point," Brown said. "Stiffler got a big lead at the beginning, I extended it, then Martin extended it some more and Harper just cruised right in for the victory. On a cramped track like that, getting a lead from the start is the most important thing." Whatever encouragement the Penn team took from the victory lasted less than 24 hours. Princeton, which had not sent a relay team to New York, was better rested and better prepared for the showdown between the Ancient Eight's two best teams. The Tigers defeated the Quakers by an overall score of 96-43. "It was pretty bad out there," said senior Henry Addo, who finished second in the 55-meter dash in 6.51 seconds. "To tell you the truth, we expected to be beaten, but they really killed us. We're just not at Princeton's level right now." Adding injury to insult, Brown suffered a strained hamstring in the 400-meter race at Princeton and was not able to take his spot as the second-leg in the 4x400-meter relay. He was replaced by junior Hugh Harmon. "It's a recurring injury," Brown said. "I've had problems with my hamstrings in the past, and Harper's had some nagging injuries ever since he got back [from a semester abroad in Spain]. If the two of us can stay healthy, we should really have a great relay team." Brown expects to be ready to run the 400 and the 4x400 in time for next Saturday's meet at Boston University. Despite Penn's intense athletic rivalry with Princeton, the team feels this weekend's loss was just a minor setback in the young season. "We're a championship team, so we'll analyze the loss and work things out," Addo said. "It's not that big a deal, and we'll still be ready in time for [the Heptagonal Championships]. At this point, we're pacing ourselves so that we'll be ready for the Heps in three weeks."