Despite high jump sweep, M. Track falls to Princeton

Ronnie RoyRonnie RoyThe Daily Pennsylvanian The Quakers finished with a total of 54 team points, to first-place Princeton's 75, and barely edged Penn State which had 52 points. The Quakers' outing was marked by several groundbreaking performances but was marred by a few subpar ones. The Quakers jumping attack was very impressive on Saturday, sweeping all four events with various individual performers. By far, the most outstanding event for Penn was the high jump. With the whole team behind him, sophomore Stanley Anderson leapt a Penn record 7-feet and 1/2-inch. Anderson's jump shattered a mark which had been intact since 1980. Other impressive Penn performances included that of Robin Martin. The sophomore ran the second-fastest 500-meters in Quakers history as he took first place for the second week in a row. Also, the improving 3200-meter relay team crushed Princeton in achieving victory. However, it was not all good news and outstanding performances for the Quakers. For starters, the sprints, which Penn counted on to rack in points, only brought in a total of 7.5. This is in sharp contrast to approximately 20 points, which were gathered by these runners in the previous meet. "Our sprinters looked tight," Penn coach Nathan Taylor said. "I think both Kael [Coleman, 200-meter runner] and Greg [Davis, 55-meter runner] were sore from Thursday's practice." The middle distances and relays did nothing to close the scoring gap, either. In fact, Penn's disappointing middle distances failed to place anybody in the top three in the 400-, 800- and 1000-meters. Usually solid senior Neil Riordan, coming off of a season best time in the 1000, finished fourth in the 800. "Neil [Riordan] also seemed a little worn out," Taylor said. "He did not have a good race. He was leading with 80 meters to go, but he just couldn't keep it together." In fact, Taylor attributes many of the lackluster performances by the Penn athletes to their tough training schedule. The main goal of the men's indoor track team is to win the season-ending Heptagonal Championships (Heps). Therefore, the mid-season training is intense and the result can be tired or sore athletes at meets. The training schedule will ease as Heps approach, assures Taylor. As for now, he also affirms that the showing at Princeton, although below standard for many of the Penn athletes was by no means disappointing.