Two aiming for Olympics

As Matt Levine lines up to race in the US Olympic Trials this Friday night in Atlanta, the spectators will see a great athlete. They will see a man who is one of the fastest 400 meter hurdlers in the country. What they will not see is that when Matt Levine is not training or competing, he is an assistant coach for the Penn men's track team. He is entering his third year of coaching this season and he continues to train as he coaches. "Dividing those things has been a tough juggling act for him," Penn's other assistant coach Nathan Taylor said. "But he's done a good job with it." Indeed, while earning the respect of the Penn athletes as a coach, he has excelled as an athlete himself. Levine ran the 400 meter hurdles in a personal best time of 50.19 seconds at the Georgia Tech Reebok Invitational last month. He shaved 0.8 seconds off his previous best time and qualified automatically for the Olympic trials by 0.01 seconds. "I went down to that meet to specifically to run a fast race with some fast people," Levine said. "I ran fast, I ran well, and I ran hard. But I don't think I ran as fast as I can. My goal for this weekend is to run under 50 seconds." The top 32 intermediate hurdlers will be competing in the trials beginning Friday. Only three will make the team, along with one alternate. Levine is not seeded to make it past the first round, but many of the other athletes ran their best times early on in the season. "My chances of making the semi-finals are good," Levine said. "My training has led toward the end of the season. This is when I'm peaking and hoping not to make mental mistakes. I'm not expecting to [make the team]. It's sort of a dream, but there's always a chance." As Levine competes this weekend, many of the Penn track team members will be watching on TV with support and respect for their coach. "You always want to have a coach who can work out with you and help you through experience," said senior sprinter Clive Brown. "He's a good coach and he's proved that," said sophomore sprinter Kael Coleman. "Now he's going to gain even more respect because not many people make it to the Olympic trials. The automatic qualifying times are ridiculously fast. You have to be great to do that." Joining Levine this weekend is Penn alumnus John Taylor. The former All-American javelin thrower has qualified for the javelin event in Atlanta this weekend. He was waiting for a phone call Tuesday night, and at 1 a.m Wednesday morning he got the call to tell him that he will be going. "It was the greatest phone call of my life -- I'm ecstatic," Taylor said. "I can't even put into words how I feel right now." Taylor is recovering from a back injury and was 25th on the list of provisional qualifiers with a throw of 237 feet, 9 inches. The top 24 provisional qualifiers go to the Olympic trials, but someone dropped out, allowing Taylor to go to Atlanta. "It's so nerve-wracking," Taylor said. "I'm excited as hell. It's the greatest honor to try for a spot on the Olympic team and anything can happen." The Olympic trials will be nationally televised on ESPN2 on Friday and NBC on Saturday. Levine will be racing at 6:30 on Friday and 8:35 Saturday if he qualifies. If Taylor attends, he will open competition on Friday at 4:00 if he qualifies. If Taylor attends, he will open competition on Friday at 4:00. As Taylor and Levine prepare to leave, Atlanta and the rest of the US are anticipating the best athletes in the country. And two from Penn will be among the competition.