Strong field helps W. Track break school records

With the world's greatest track and field athletes invading their home turf, the Penn women's track team showed that it can compete with the best in the Penn Relays Carnival. While Marion Jones and her teammates at Nike were burning the Franklin Field track in Olympic development races, the Penn women sprinters were doing some burning of their own in the sprint relays. The Quakers sprint medley team of Jen Roy, Shana McDonald-Black, Vicki Moore and Jessica Mitchell finished its race in 3:58.31, annihilating the former Penn record by six seconds. The time put Penn in 17th place overall and second in their heat behind a powerful Tennessee foursome. After breaking the sprint medley record Friday, Roy, Moore and McDonald-Black regrouped with Richelle Clements Saturday to see another Penn record come crashing down. The four ran the 4x200 meter relay in 1:37.57, three seconds under the previous mark -- placing them third among four teams in the ECAC division. The Quakers finished behind George Mason and Seton Hall and ahead of Virginia Tech. "Everyone was really excited about both relays," senior captain Roy said. "We performed very well against the Eastern teams." One race in which the Red and Blue did not excel, surprisingly, was the 4x400 relay. One week earlier, Penn ran a time of 3:43.72 to set a new school record. If the Quakers had run their time from the previous week, they would have won. However, the team of Mitchell, Moore, Sonya Crosswell and Roy ran 3:46.59, only good enough for third place behind defending champion Brown and Princeton. "One of our legs wasn't as strong as it usually is," Roy said. "But it was still our second-fastest time ever." Although Penn turned in good performances on the track, the jumpers and throwers also showed their talent by placing in several events. Lindsay Anderson jumped 5'3.25" to tie for ninth in the Eastern division of the high jump, and Luanna Botelho put the shot 43'.5" to take fourth in the Eastern competition. Freshman Amy Mitchell also improved in her event, as she hurled the discus 145'7" to set a school record. This mark outdistances Botelho's record of 143'9" set last season. "It was satisfying in one sense because it was an accomplishment," Mitchell said. "But I still have more work to do. I can't settle for this." Mitchell, competing at her first Penn Relays, said she was also excited by the Relays atmosphere. Highlighting the Relays was the 4x200 team from Texas, who set a new national collegiate record of 1:31.23. This time outpaced the favorites and former recordholders from LSU, who finished second, also in a time below the old mark. "Being the favorite doesn't mean anything," Texas anchor runner Nanceen Perry said. "We'll always come ready." Another thrilling moment came in the distance medley in which Wisconsin edged out perennial distance power Villanova, winning by less than one second. "I wanted it so bad I could taste it," Wisconsin anchor Sara Fredrickson said. "I used all that I had to finish." This past weekend, everyone wanted to win like Fredrickson did. From Penn freshman Mitchell breaking a school record to the Texas women breaking a national record, the Penn Relays brought out the best in all athletes.

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