Two 800-meter runners break school record for M. Track

The Penn men's indoor track team emphasized strong individual performances in the St. Valentine's Invitational at Boston University on Saturday. The meet was marked by several spectacular performances on the track, but a number of sub-par ones on the field. It was an open invitational in Boston, which meant representatives from 37 different college teams as well as numerous non-collegiate athletes entered the field. The meet was not scored for team points, but individual performances were recorded for qualification purposes. With these parameters set, the field was extremely strong and the events highly competitive. The meet was a final tune-up for the individual athletes before their biggest tournament of the indoor season, the Heptagonal Championships, in two weeks. With this in mind, the Penn running squad went out in full force and ran some respectable times. The 800-meter run produced the performance of the day, which turned out to be the performance of the year to this point by the Penn runners. Two of the four Quakers entrants in this event broke school records. Senior Neil Riordan broke his old record by running a time of one minute, 51.14 seconds. Sophomore Robin Martin not only broke, but shattered, the old record by running his 800 in 1:49.88. With this record-breaking time, Martin also qualified for the NCAA Championships in Indianapolis a month from now. The track was also the site of a strong performance by the improving Penn distance runners. Senior Matt Wilkinson almost matched his personal best in the 5,000-meters and junior Paolo Frescura qualified for the IC4As for the first time in his collegiate career because of his solid performance in the mile. The improvement of the endurance runners is actually well-timed for Penn. Heading into the Heptagonal Championships in two weeks, the Quakers would like nothing more than to pick up a few team points in the distance events. "In order to win the Heps, we have to pick up points wherever we can," Penn assistant coach Nathan Taylor said. "Every guy on the team that can score must do so." Although, the track events delighted the Quakers, the field was not as friendly. Penn's usually dependable field athletes competed well below what has come to be expected of them. This sub-par performance can be explained by the mindset of the athletes. "The field athletes knew that the facilities were not very good," Taylor said. "They just weren't as motivated for this meet as they were for the previous ones." Taylor is assured that there is nothing to worry about, though. Two weekends ago, the Quakers' jumpers and throwers turned in wonderful performances at Princeton, which is where the Heps will be contested. Taylor's assumption is that at the same facility where they already had success against top-notch opponents motivation should not be a problem. Penn is now optimistic as they head into the end of the indoor season. Both the track and field athletes have enjoyed strong performances at different points during the season. The only question that remains is whether or not both aspects can put it all together for one solid team effort.