Jimenez carries women's track team over the peak

The senior hepathelete placed fourth in last weekend's ECAC Championships, but was the lone quaker to score points. Penn senior Angie Jimenez closed out her career with a fourth-place finish in the heptathlon at the ECAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships, but the rest of the Penn women's track team can only hope that their experience at this year's Championships will pay dividends next year. "It's just been a really long year and this is the end of it. And for us it's well past our peak," assistant track and field coach Tony Tenisci said. Jimenez, who has been one of Penn's most consistent performers throughout the year, scored the only points of the meet for the Quakers. But she was not pleased with her performance. Her original goal was to make the NCAA Championships, but a tough first day left her in tenth place and forced her to reassess her goal. "I had a decent meet," Jimenez said. "I was really shooting to qualify for nationals. It turned into just trying to place." Strong showings in the final two of the seven events secured her fourth spot ahead of University of Virginia junior Kathryn Kiladis. On the first day, Jimenez finished ninth in both the 100-meter low hurdles and in the high jump. Jimenez then rebounded by finishing second in the shot put, but placed tenth in the fourth and final event of the day -- the 200-meter dash. On the second day of competition, Jimenez made her move finishing fourth in the long jump and second in the javelin throw. "It pulled me out of the ditch," Jimenez said. In the final event, the final heptathlon event of her college career, Jimenez finished third in the 800-meter run to take fourth place overall. "The year was kind of a disappointment to me, but I've gotten so much out of track," she said. While Jimenez was the only Quaker who scored any points for the women, the Penn coaching staff was not overly surprised. "I'm not disappointed with anything other than I think they just got really nervous because they're young and they're not sure. And they tried too hard. They'll all come back next year," Tenisci said. Against the difficult competition, the Quaker women's relay teams performed best. In the 4x400 meter relay, both Jessica Mitchell and Jen Roy ran very fast splits that left the Penn team just shy of breaking its own school record. The 4x100 meter relay also came within a fraction of a second of breaking the school record. Both relay teams will return their cores, hopefully again to the ECAC Championships. "They need to see this and what it takes to win...They're young," Tenisci said. "I'm really pleased with them. They had a wonderful year." "We have nothing to be unhappy about, this was just extra," Tenisci added. "I have to remember the good things." Some of the good things, like Jimenez, won't be back next year, but they don't have any regrets. "It didn't all come together for me this year, but our team had a great year," Jimenez said. "There was nothing negative about this experience."