Penn opens outdoor season at home

W. Track will try to carry itsW. Track will try to carry itssuccess at Heps into spring Last time the Penn women's track and field team won an outdoor Ivy League Championship, Guns N' Roses topped the billboard charts, the New York Mets were running away with the National League East, and Dirty Dancing was number one in the box office. However, there is much optimism surrounding the 1996 Quakers, who overall have the strongest potential of any Penn team that has stepped onto the track since that dominating 1988 season. The Red and Blue concluded this year's winter season with a surprising first place finish at the Indoor Heptagonals at Dartmouth's Leverone Field House. Penn coach Betty Costanza predicted a Quakers finish of no higher than fifth place in the Heps. However, even without two of the Quaker's stars, juniors Michelle Belsley and Daria Smith, the Red and Blue finished on top, 10 points ahead of second-place Dartmouth. "Coming off the [winter] championships, we really want to prove that it wasn't a fluke -- that we really deserved win," Penn freshman long- and triple-jumper Lisa El said. "Because some people believe things just fell our way. But, we really deserved to win it, and we just want to prove that." Recent trends show that whenever the Quakers win any of the major indoor championships in the winter, they will dominate the Ivy League meets throughout the spring season when the Quakers are competing primarily at the friendly confines of Franklin Field. The '84, '85, '86, and '88 Penn teams all won major indoor championships in the winter season, and followed them up by winning the Ivy League Championships in the spring. The only Penn track and field team to elude this distinction was the 1987 team. That year, the Red and Blue won the Big Five, the Heptagonals, and the Ivy Championship in the winter season, only to collapse into mediocrity as the weather warmed. If the Quakers hope to remain competitive this spring, they must continue to dominate in the jumping events. Penn assistant coach Tony Tenisci is responsible for preparing the throwing and jumping squads for head coach Betty Costanza. Thus far, Tenisci has done a respectable job. At the Heptagonals, the Quakers earned 36 of their 102 points in the two jumping competitions as Kimberly Mason, Angie Jimenez, and El placed first, second and third respectively in the long jump. El, a native of Freeport, N.Y., also placed first in the women's triple jump, leaping 11.82 meters. Co-captains Angie Jimenez and Kelly King will also play an integral role in the Quakers' quest for an Ivy League championship. Jimenez, a junior from Stanford, Conn., is the most versatile athlete on the team this season, and was named all-Ivy last spring, setting Penn records in the pentathlon and heptathlon. At the Heptagonals, Jimenez earned 18 team points for the Quakers -- more than the entire Yale, Navy and Columbia teams -- competing in the long-jump, pentathlon, and shot-put events. "She's just an inspiration," said El of Jimenez. "Just watching her practice makes you want to work harder. She's always the first person to practice and the last one to leave." King, a junior sprinter from Evanston, Ill., was named the most improved athlete on spring track last season. King runs the 200- and 400-meter dashes, along with the 4x100 and 4x400 relays. "Kelley King is a great captain," freshman sprinter Sonya Crosswell said. "She is a motivator. In the indoors, she helped pull the team together. She is bubbly and energetic. But her talk is not empty words. She really believes in the team." The Quakers begin their quest for a spring Ivy League title this Sunday at the Penn Invitationals on Franklin Field. Home field advantage should aid the Red and Blue, who will only leave Franklin Field for two of their seven meets this season -- Yale on April 13 and Cornell on April 20. The highlight of the '96 spring season, as always, will be the Penn Relays, which will take place from April 25-27 at Franklin Field. This spring will mark the 101st anniversary of the world's largest track and field meet.

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