WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD: Jimenez and King take the lead

Captains Angie Jimenez andCaptains Angie Jimenez andKelley King are a perfect combo In an exceptionally talented junior class that includes Michelle Belsley, Adria Ferguson, Chrisann Sevoian, Daria Smith, Erin Soley and many more, Angie Jimenez and Kelley King were voted captains. The honor was bestowed upon Jimenez and King not by the coaches, but by a vote of their teammates. The paths taken by Jimenez and King to captaincy were very much different. Polly Jimenez, Angie's mother, can remember when her daughter first became turned on to running in fifth grade. "The first time Angie ever ran was in a five-mile race in elementary school," the elder Jimenez said. "Angie just loved running, and when the race ended, she had finished with sixth graders." Another time, after Jimenez had been running at school she told her mother, "Mom I enjoy running so much I don't ever want to stop." King, on the other hand, never raced until she was in high school. Before ninth grade, King's mother, Amanda King, explained why her daughter never was turned on to track. "I didn't think Kelley was going to be a runner at a young age because she was in too many other things" King said. "Kelley was taking clarinet lessons, dancing lessons, and she was doing too many other things. Her studies were very important to her, and Kelley didn't start running until high school." Throughout high school, the running careers of Jimenez and King were filled with success, but for King, it was more immediate than Angie. In King's second year on the Evanston (Ill.) High track team, her Wildkits relay team took first place against Southern Illinois power Lincoln High, the first time Evanston had won in years. "I'll tell you how dedicated Kelley was," King's mother said. "Once a syndicated T.V. show came down to her school, and she auditioned without an agent and got the part. "After confronting her coach, Kelley left the team, and you could tell she missed track because it was a part of her. Then after three weeks, she told the producer of this T.V. show that she couldn't stay with her, and she had to go back to track." While King specialized in relays all throughout high school, Jimenez did a plethora of events, including the hurdles, high jump and long jump. Before joining the track team at Stamford High, Jimenez hoped to play soccer, her other love at the time. Unfortunately, her school did not have a women's soccer program until she was a junior. Instead, she joined the track team and has been running ever since. Jimenez's high school track coach, Art Brown, recalls the first time he saw her at practice. "When I first saw Angie, I didn't immediately think to myself this kid was going to be a star," Brown said. "But Angie certainly had potential. She had good height, was thin, but not real strong. Her soccer background gave Angie good coordination, and so we turned her into a high jumper, and she was very successful her freshman year." By her junior season, Jimenez had added the hurdles, long jump, 800-meter dash, shot put and javelin to her repertoire. "Angie was a hard worker. Anything you asked her to do she was more than willing to try," Brown said. "Angie stayed after practice, and she was anxious to learn. In her senior year, Angie captained our teamed to first place at the county championship. As a captain, Angie was a great role model and was respected and looked up to by everyone on the team." Following their successful high school careers, King and Jimenez came to Penn determined to turn the women's track team into a winner. "They were recruited as quality athletes, and they just came in with a good work ethic," Quakers assistant coach Tony Tenisci remembered. "Both girls are natural leaders. They know how to talk to their peers and to respond to the coaches." Penn coach Betty Costanza agreed. "Angie and Kelley came in with excellent credentials, and nice recommendations from their coaches." Both athletes were impact players from the beginning. When they arrived on campus, King and Jimenez helped bring the team closer together off the track, as well as on. Fellow junior Adria Ferguson sees this year's track team as one big family. "We are all so close, and we try be there for each other," she said. Ferguson feels the reason why King and Jimenez are such good leaders is because they balance each other perfectly. "Angie leads through example, and Kelley leads through inspiration basically," Ferguson said. "Kelley always knows what to say, and Angie is the type of person who is willing to do anything for the team, and that kind of wears off on the team." Echoing Ferguson's sentiments, Quakers senior Melanie Gesker said that Jimenez is not only respected at Penn, but by Ivy League foes as well. "Because Angie does the pentathlon, she gets to be around a little bit of everybody," Gesker said. "Since we have so many sprinters on the team, Kelley does a good job of showing them the ropes." After three years of competition, there are countless highlights and stories that the two juniors could go on and on about. However, the bottom line is that this season Jimenez and King have done more than just consistently place in the top five in their perspective events. They have become true leaders. "They have a love for this sport," Costanza said. "They have a lot of respect for the team. Angie and Kelley want to be champions, and they want to win and, when you want to do that, you become good leaders."