W. Track excels in field events at Penn Invite

Officially, spring arrived on March 20. But for the Penn women's track team, spring was not truly here until a gun signaled the start to the first race at the Penn Invitational yesterday afternoon at Franklin Field. Team scores were not kept at the 11-team Invite. Officially, the meet has no weight in the final season rankings. However, a team's performance in this opening meet provides a strong indication of how the team will fare in later scored meets. The Red and Blue's effort in the season opener provided players and fans with mixed reactions. The indoor Heptagonal champion Quakers did not place first in a single event during the day. Nonetheless, a majority of the Penn runners, sprinters and jumpers finished in positions which would have earned team points in a scored meet. In the high jump, Penn captain Angie Jimenez placed fourth. Sophomore Satuski Mitchell and freshmen Lindsey Anderson and Melody Pullen placed fifth through seventh. In the long jump, the star freshmen tandem of Kimberly Mason and Lisa El finished second and third. And the Quakers absolutely dominated the triple jump, as El placed second, followed by freshman Aqiyla Muhammad, sophomore Danielle Prouix and junior Kelly Fitzsimmons. Freshman shot putter Luana Bothello had the strongest outing yesterday of any Quakers thrower, placing third in the shot put. Junior Erin Soley also qualified for the finals, placing sixth in the hammer throw. "It was a solid opener for us," Soley said. "There were some rusty spots, but we haven't had much chance to practice coming off Heps." On the track, sophomore Dawn McGee finished second in the 100-meter hurdles. Junior Adria Ferguson finished second in the 800-meter run, just 2.1 seconds behind Rutgers's Krista Dunbar. The Quakers also had several strong individual performances in the dashes. Freshman Shana McDonald- Black finished in a tie for third in the 100 meters. Co-captain Kelley King placed fourth in the 200 meters. And freshman Michelle Satine and sophomore April Edlow finished fourth and fifth in the 400-meter dash. "I was really excited to open the season with a good time," Edlow said. "We were just really impressed. Everybody just had a good meet. It really came together." However, Edlow realizes that yesterday's performance may not be strong enough to guarantee a repeat of the winter's fairy-tale championship. "Things we really are going to need to work on are short sprints and the 4x100 [relay]," Edlow added. "I think we have to stay focused, " Jimenez said. "We have to work as hard as we have been working all year, and we have to stay healthy. Our team has a lot of attitude in a good way and a lot of competitiveness. Having the indoor championship makes us want it more."

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