M. Indoor Track to open year

The men's indoor track team kicks off its season Saturday at the Harvard Invitational. The Penn men's track team is serious about the upcoming Harvard Invitational -- all of the athletes will be wearing neck-ties when they arrive late Friday night. Should an absent-minded Quaker forget his tie, however, he will not be entirely out of luck, thanks to Penn assistant coach Nathan Taylor. Although Taylor doesn't carry extra spikes, shoes or tape, he does keep two spare ties in his desk for just such an emergency. Such emergencies are not expected, however, as the 1998-99 indoor track season opens at the Harvard Invitational on Saturday with an all-day meet at the Gordon Track and Tennis Center. Penn will send about half of its 60 athletes to Cambridge, Mass. The meet will be used primarily to break in freshman members of the team and to see how the veterans have progressed. Penn coach Charlie Powell views the upcoming invite as a chance to "get something started." "When you first start the season? you want to find out basically where your opposition has gone -- are they in the same or better shape than last year and in years past?" Powell said. "You're trying to find out your competitiveness, especially [with] the young kids." With the exception of Harvard, Powell is not sure which teams will be represented at the competition. He expects to see a number of teams from the New England area, though Harvard may very well be the only other Ivy competitor. Because the Quakers will not face many league rivals, they will concentrate on the status of their own team. "We really have to get to know our team, who's going to perform where -- and get to know each other and who we can count on," Penn sophomore Darryl Olczak said. Some of the athletes have personal goals that they would like to attain this weekend. "We've been practicing for three hard months now, so my expectations at Harvard are pretty good," Penn sophomore Mike Aguilar said. "I'm looking to hopefully qualify for the IC4As at the first meet. I'm just trying to get some good times for this first meet and then go back and train for the next month -- and keep trying to qualify for the NCAAs." Like Aguilar, most Quakers will be spending their entire season trying to qualify for the IC4A meet in March. As a team, however, they would like to capture the Ivy League crown. Traditionally, Penn and Princeton have dominated the league, and Penn has either placed first or second at the heptagonal meets in the past seven years. The Quakers feel that once again Princeton will be the team to beat, but they know that they have the potential to come out on top of the Ancient Eight. "[Princeton] is our biggest competition," Aguilar said. "[The Tigers] probably lost just as many good seniors as we lost last year. "I think we can beat Princeton and win the Ivy League championship." The Quakers are also looking to be competitive with non-Ivy teams on the East Coast in the IC4As this year. Last year they took second to Georgetown at the meet, but many of Penn's contributing seniors were lost to graduation. If the talent-rich freshman class can meet expectations, then Penn will have a successful season. The meet at Harvard will allow them to demonstrate their talent in a competitive atmosphere. "We really need the freshman to perform well," Penn senior Rich Carlson said. "[We need them] to get their feet wet with collegiate competition. I'm not expecting any breakthrough performances from freshmen, I'm just expecting them to perform well." The Quakers will use this meet as a chance to evaluate the team. While Powell doesn't expect season-best times and performances, there is one thing he is counting on. "As a famous coach once said, 'I expect all my guys to show up on time'," Powell said.