M. Track finally runs at home

The Penn men's track team began its outdoor spring season yesterday by hosting the Quaker Invitational. Unfortunately, the outdoor season opener was not met by spring-like weather. The athletes representing the 10 schools, including locals such as St. Joe's, Temple and La Salle, competed in near-freezing temperatures at windy Franklin Field. "[The bad weather] doesn't affect the throwers quite as much," Penn assistant coach Nathan Taylor, who coaches the field athletes and sprinters, said. "But by the time we got to the shot put, these guys were frozen, and when you're cold, you lose your flexibility." The Quakers highlight of the afternoon came from the individuals in the hammer throw. Lucas Deines, Matt Pagliasotti and Kyle Turley finished first, second and third respectively, as their distances were all good enough for Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America [IC4A] qualification. Deines also finished first in the discus throw with his hurl of 46.24 meters. "Matt Pagliasotti had the best performance out of the guys I coached today," Taylor said. The day's most exciting track event was the 800 meter run. Freshman Andy Girardin bested St. Joe's Dave Polis by one hundreth of a second with his time of 1:55.75. Girardin broke away from the pack in the final lap of the race. Going into the last 200 meters, he built a convincing lead, but Polis crept back. Polis nearly caught Girardin, but thanks to a good final effort, Girardin held on for a photo-finish victory. The Invitational was good for Penn because it enabled the team to develop its depth. Kei Yamamato outjumped two athletes from Moravian College to capture first place in the triple jump. Sean Macmillan and Matt Blodgett won the top two spots in the 3,000 meter steeplechase. Also, freshman Josh Coleman won the pole vault, an event in which Penn took the top three places. Historically, Penn is a better outdoor track team than an indoor team. Part of this is due to the lack of an indoor facility, but that's not the only reason. "Success in the indoor competition comes from having good middle distance runners," Taylor said. The outdoor IC4As don't have middle distance events such as the 500 meter dash, the 4x800 meter relay and the two mile run, which occur at the indoor IC4As. Although Penn has a few excellent middle distance runners, the absence of these events may help the Red and Blue in May. Georgetown, who won the 1998 Indoor IC4As, scored a majority of their points in the middle distance events. While many teams score less points at the outdoor IC4As, the Quakers generally score more. With this in mind, the future of the 1998 outdoor season looks bright. The indoor team finished eighth in the United States Track Coaches Association rankings. With what Powell dubbed as "a good start to the season," the Quaker Invitational could be the beginning of another championship season for the defending 1997 Outdoor Heptagonal Champions.