M. Track heads to Raleigh

When the Penn men's track team traveled to the Raleigh Record Relays last year, it was the first meet of their outdoor season. This year they have already competed in an outdoor meet and although the performance was not the best, it will give them added preparation going into this weekend's meet at North Carolina State University. "The fact that we had a meet last week kind of helps us," Penn senior sprinter Clive Brown said. "It was a strength meet and we have a feel for outdoors already." The Quakers will have a chance to improve on last week's mediocre performance this weekend. The meet will be held today and tomorrow in Raleigh, N.C., where over 100 schools will be represented. "This is a very high-quality meet," Penn assistant coach Nathan Taylor said. "It's as high as the IC4As. There is outstanding competition in every event. Typically the top two finishers [in each event] are NCAA qualifiers." Taylor added that this meet will be unscored as was last week's. But the Quakers still could place in as many as 12 or 13 events with a strong team performance. Penn will not be at full strength, however, as some top runners will not be attending the meet. Freshman sprinter Robin Martin, sophomore long jumper and sprinter Mike Stiffler and junior middle-distance runner Jim Primerano will all miss this weekend's meet for various reasons. This weekend will give many of the athletes who struggled last weekend a chance to get back on track. "Last week was an eye opener which said we have a lot of work to do," said co-captain Greg Schroeder, who will be pole vaulting in North Carolina this weekend. "I think everyone's geared up for this weekend. Any time you travel, you've got eight and a half hours to think about what you're going to do. There are no distractions. You're going down there to run and that's it." Schroeder added that he had a good week of practice and hopes to improve on last weeks poor showing in the pole vault. Senior co-captain Dave Rechtweg also had a good week of training in the high jump. "I'm expecting to rebound [from last week's performance]," he said. "There's going to be really good competition which will give me a chance to jump really high." Freshman high jumper Rich Carlson will be trying to qualify for the Junior Nationals in California. He needs a jump of 6 feet, 11 inches to qualify for the tournament in which the competitors must be 19 years old or younger. Even though there is a chance of rain Friday, the Quakers agree that as long as it's not to cold or windy, the weather should not be a factor. And the better competition this weekend should produce some better times than last weekend.