M. Track heads to separate states

This weekend, the Penn men's outdoor track team will participate in two different meets. Some athletes are competing in the Texas Relays in Austin, which began yesterday and will continue through Saturday. The rest of the team is hosting the Penn Invitational Saturday at Franklin Field. The splitting of the team should be beneficial to the entire Penn squad. The veterans of the team are travelling to the University of Texas for the Texas Relays. "This is one of the events of the season," Penn coach Charlie Powell said. Many of the nation's top athletes will be at this meet, which is considered to be as competitive as the Penn Relays. The mile relay team is among the teams that had the honor of being invited to the Texas Relays. They are accompanied by teammates such as senior Eric Hyde, who began the decathlon yesterday, Texas natives John Linhart and Matt Pagliasotti and other field competitors. With those Quakers running in a different time zone, the rest of the team is focusing on this Saturday's Penn Invitational. "The young and up-and-coming guys are here with me," Powell said. "This is our team of the future. We'll [be able to] see what the team will be like a couple of years from now." The Penn Invitational will have ample competition to test the younger Quakers. After competing in the Quaker Invitational two weeks ago, local rivals, St. Joe's, La Salle and Temple will return to Franklin Field. Over 10 teams will be here this weekend including Haverford -- home of one of the top Division III programs -- Kutztown -- a top Division II school -- and Ivy League foe Cornell. One of Cornell's star athletes is senior Shaka Davis. At the 1998 Indoor Heptagonal Championships, Davis finished third in the long jump, 11th in the high jump and second in the triple jump behind Penn junior Stan Anderson. A major area of competition could be in the middle distance events including the 1500 meter run and the 800 meter run. St. Joe's, La Salle, Kutztown and Haverford all have solid middle distance runners and should give the Red and Blue a challenge. "It's going to be a neat meet for me," Powell said. "We'll see if some guys step up. Even if the performances aren't there, I'd like to see the effort there." As with every competition, both meets this weekend provide the Quakers with a chance to qualify for post-season action. "We could have some guys with IC4A [Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America] qualifiers or better," Powell said. Some of Penn's top athletes at the Texas Relays this weekend may even be aiming for an NCAA qualification. This weekend should be an indicator of not only how good Penn is, but how much better they will be in the future. With Penn Relays approaching three weeks later, followed by the outdoor post-season, now is a good time for the Quakers to show everyone what they are made of.