M. Track defeats Big Red in Ithaca

Penn freshman Robin Martin went to Ithaca, N.Y., on Saturday and ran a personal-best time of 1 minute, 51.2 seconds to win the 800-meter run and help the Penn men's track team to a victory over Cornell. The time qualified Martin for the IC4A Championships and the Junior National Championships. Martin's Penn teammate Neil Riordan finished a half-second later to give the Quakers the top two spots in the 800. "That's a good sign that we've got two guys who are in good shape to kick some butt in the 800," Quakers senior co-captain Greg Schroeder said. Schroeder won the pole vault with a height of 15 feet, 5 inches. The Quakers defeated the Big Red in their dual meet, 99-63, with a solid all-around performance. "Everyone went out and did what they had to do," Penn senior co-captain Dave Rechtweg said. "We wanted to get solid performances all around, and we did." Rechtweg won the high jump despite having to jump uphill into the wind. Penn freshman Rich Carlson took third. Penn's Corey Shannon threw his best distance of the season in the javelin event. He won the competition with a throw of 199 feet, 6 inches despite recovering from a lower back injury. The Quakers triple jumpers and long jumpers swept their events, taking the top three places in both. The Penn 4x100 and 4x400 meter relay teams each won their events. With three B-squad runners filling in the on the 4x400 team, the foursome's time of 3:15.1 was the third fastest in the league this year. "It's nice to know that you can substitute from a pool of four to six guys and still be competitive," said Louis Juliano, who ran the third leg of the relay. The Quakers went to Cornell and rebounded nicely from a loss to Princeton last week with a solid victory. They now look ahead to the Penn Relays and the Heptagonal Championships in the next two weeks. "This was a lot better team effort," Quakers assistant coach Matt Levine said. "Hopefully, it will get guys fired up for the next few weeks."