Quakers will miss top sprinters at IC4As

Loss of Addo and Harper will hurt M. Track in regionals The elite members of the Penn men's track team will travel to Harvard's Gordon Track this weekend to compete in the IC4As. Two of the team's fastest runners, however, will not make the trip. The IC4As is the Eastern regional indoor championships. One hundred and three Division I schools, ranging as far west as Notre Dame and as far south as Duke, will send their best runners, jumpers, vaulters and throwers to compete for regional supremacy. Generally, about 30 to 35 athletes participate in each event. The IC4As come on the heels of the Quakers' second-place finish to Princeton at the Heptagonal Championships last weekend at Dartmouth. Penn dominated the sprints and jumps at that event, but failed to place high in the middle-distance races. This weekend, Quakers senior sprinters Chris Harper and Henry Addo will not run. Harper, the three-time defending Heps 400-meter champion, strained a hamstring at Dartmouth, while 55-meter runner-up Addo is sidelined with the flu. Twenty-one other Penn athletes will compete at the meet. Among sprinters, juniors Greg Davis and Roger Beckwith will run the 55-meter dash, and sophomore Kael Coleman will participate in the 200-meter. Davis blew the competition away in the 55 at Heps with a time of 6.45 seconds. In the middle-distance events, junior Neil Riordan will run the 800-meter race, senior Kurt Sprowls will compete in the 3,000-meter run, and junior Matt Wilkinson will be the Quakers' lone competitor in the 5,000-meter run. Penn will not enter any runners in the 400-meter run because the coaching staff has decided to save them for the 4x400-meter relay. The relay squad broke the school indoor record three weeks ago at Boston University, but will feel the absence of Harper this weekend. Junior Jim Primerano will be running the anchor leg of the 4x400 in Harper's place at the IC4As, and he feels up to the challenge. "Not having Chris is tough, since he's our best quarter-miler, but I think we can run a solid relay and get into the finals," Primerano said. "I've had a lot of experience running the 4x400 in the past. I led off in it at the Penn Relays last year. The 800 is my better event when I'm in shape, but I have a lot more fun running the 400." Though confident in Primerano's ability, Quakers assistant coach Nathan Taylor thinks Harper's injury may cost the 4x400 squad an opportunity to advance to the NCAA championship meet. Its time would have to be one of the 16 best in the nation this year to qualify. "We're just .65 seconds away from qualifying for the NCAAs, but it'll be tough to improve on our time without Chris," Taylor said. Several of Penn's field stars will also make the trip to Harvard. Four Quakers will compete in the triple jump, the most of any event. Sophomore Dave Davenport, junior Okinyi Ayungo and freshmen Stanley Anderson and Dan Nord are all seeded among the top 10 in the competition. Penn junior Chris Osentowski is seeded seventh in the shot put competition and sophomore Eric Hyde ninth in the pentathlon. Quakers senior Greg Schroeder, junior Dan Short and sophomore John Linhart will all compete in the pole vault. Schroeder, who propelled himself to a personal-best 16 feet, five inches at Heps, is seeded fourth this weekend. "I'd like to hit 17-1 this weekend," said Schroeder, referring to the minimum qualifying mark for the NCAA championships. "Coach has been tapering off the hard workouts over the last week, so everyone's feeling a lot fresher. The vault is one of those events where, if you have a good day, you can suddenly go up eight or 10 inches." Senior Dave Rechtweg and freshman Rich Carlson will represent Penn in the high jump. Rechtweg is seeded sixth at Harvard after falling one centimeter short of the Quakers record of seven feet last week. "The highest jump in the East this year is seven feet, 3/4 of an inch, and I'd like to beat that," Rechtweg said. "This will be my last chance to set the school indoor record." "The Big East had last week off and the Heps teams didn't, so it's hard for these guys to recover from such a tough meet in just one week," Taylor said. "But Gordon's track is considered by most to be the fastest track in the nation, so I expect some of our runners to put up real good times."By Greg Kalnit The Daily Pennsylvanian The elite members of the Penn men's track team will travel to Harvard's Gordon Track this weekend to compete in the IC4As. Two of the team's fastest runners, however, will not make the trip. The IC4As is the Eastern regional indoor championships. One hundred and three Division I schools, ranging as far west as Notre Dame and as far south as Duke, will send their best runners, jumpers, vaulters and throwers to compete for regional supremacy. Generally, about 30 to 35 athletes participate in each event. The IC4As come on the heels of the Quakers' second-place finish to Princeton at the Heptagonal Championships last weekend at Dartmouth. Penn dominated the sprints and jumps at that event, but failed to place high in the middle-distance races. This weekend, Quakers senior sprinters Chris Harper and Henry Addo will not run. Harper, the three-time defending Heps 400-meter champion, strained a hamstring at Dartmouth, while 55-meter runner-up Addo is sidelined with the flu. Twenty-one other Penn athletes will compete at the meet. Among sprinters, juniors Greg Davis and Roger Beckwith will run the 55-meter dash, and sophomore Kael Coleman will participate in the 200-meter. Davis blew the competition away in the 55 at Heps with a time of 6.45 seconds. In the middle-distance events, junior Neil Riordan will run the 800-meter race, senior Kurt Sprowls will compete in the 3,000-meter run, and junior Matt Wilkinson will be the Quakers' lone competitor in the 5,000-meter run. Penn will not enter any runners in the 400-meter run because the coaching staff has decided to save them for the 4x400-meter relay. The relay squad broke the school indoor record three weeks ago at Boston University, but will feel the absence of Harper this weekend. Junior Jim Primerano will be running the anchor leg of the 4x400 in Harper's place at the IC4As, and he feels up to the challenge. "Not having Chris is tough, since he's our best quarter-miler, but I think we can run a solid relay and get into the finals," Primerano said. "I've had a lot of experience running the 4x400 in the past. I led off in it at the Penn Relays last year. The 800 is my better event when I'm in shape, but I have a lot more fun running the 400." Though confident in Primerano's ability, Quakers assistant coach Nathan Taylor thinks Harper's injury may cost the 4x400 squad an opportunity to advance to the NCAA championship meet. Its time would have to be one of the 16 best in the nation this year to qualify. "We're just .65 seconds away from qualifying for the NCAAs, but it'll be tough to improve on our time without Chris," Taylor said. Several of Penn's field stars will also make the trip to Harvard. Four Quakers will compete in the triple jump, the most of any event. Sophomore Dave Davenport, junior Okinyi Ayungo and freshmen Stanley Anderson and Dan Nord are all seeded among the top 10 in the competition. Penn junior Chris Osentowski is seeded seventh in the shot put competition and sophomore Eric Hyde ninth in the pentathlon. Quakers senior Greg Schroeder, junior Dan Short and sophomore John Linhart will all compete in the pole vault. Schroeder, who propelled himself to a personal-best 16 feet, five inches at Heps, is seeded fourth this weekend. "I'd like to hit 17-1 this weekend," said Schroeder, referring to the minimum qualifying mark for the NCAA championships. "Coach has been tapering off the hard workouts over the last week, so everyone's feeling a lot fresher. The vault is one of those events where, if you have a good day, you can suddenly go up eight or 10 inches." Senior Dave Rechtweg and freshman Rich Carlson will represent Penn in the high jump. Rechtweg is seeded sixth at Harvard after falling one centimeter short of the Quakers record of seven feet last week. "The highest jump in the East this year is seven feet, 3/4 of an inch, and I'd like to beat that," Rechtweg said. "This will be my last chance to set the school indoor record." "The Big East had last week off and the Heps teams didn't, so it's hard for these guys to recover from such a tough meet in just one week," Taylor said. "But Gordon's track is considered by most to be the fastest track in the nation, so I expect some of our runners to put up real good times."