W. Track finishes up 1998

The Penn women's track team heads to George Mason after opening last week at Brown. Seven months is a lot of time -- just ask the women's track team. When Coach Betty Costanza brought her women's winter track team to their first meet since last spring, she wasn't expecting too much out of them. But Costanza couldn't have been more pleased with her team's results at the Brown Invitational Saturday. "Most of the girls were doing their events for the first time since last May," Costanza said. "Yet we placed in the top three in nearly every event at Brown." Despite their early success, the goals of Costanza and her squad are not fixed on placing right now. "We're not looking for place. We're looking for times, distances, and heights. We're looking to improve upon our performances from last weekend and be more consistent," Costanza said. "We need to know where we are at in each event before we break for Christmas. Place is of little significance in the first two meets. It's performance that we look for." The women's team is now gearing up for what should be a very intense meet at George Mason University this weekend. With tougher competition than the Brown Invite, George Mason marks a key starting point for the team's season. "George Mason has always been a very good meet to run in," said senior Vicky Moore, who tied for first in the 400-meter dash at Brown. "We want to do even better here than at Brown. If we are more confident and compete as we know we can compete, I think we should do well." According to Costanza, George Mason will be a major test for Penn's deep field of sprinters, jumpers and hurdlers. But what she is looking for is a lot more from her middle and distance runners. "Rita Garber has emerged as one of the finest distance runners in the East," Costanza said. "So that will certainly pick up the slack in the distance areas." Last month, Garber, a senior co-captain, became the first Quaker to compete at the cross-country nationals since 1992. She should continue to be a force in every race she enters. With Jessica Mitchell's first-place finish in the 1,000-meter run and Laura Phillips' third-place finish in the 800-meter run at Brown, the middle runners also appear to be well on their way to "picking up the slack." Mitchell, considered by Costanza to be one of Penn's best middle runners ever, has found success in a number of events over the years. An All-East runner in '98, co-captain Mitchell is poised for an impressive senior year. As for the pole vault, Penn took first and second place at Brown with two incredible performances by Liz Wittels and current school-record holder Ami Desai, who had leaps of 10'6" and 10' respectively. Melissa MacIntyre finished third in the long jump, Mandy Bennett placed third in the weight throw and the Penn triple jumpers took four of the top eight spots as well. Luana Botelho, the current school record holder in the shot put, placed third at Brown with a 13.54-meter toss. The senior co-captain and All-East shot-putter hopes to continue her success this weekend in building a strong year. "I definitely want to improve my marks at George Mason," said Botelho. "And I hope to maintain where I started." With their performances at Brown, Mitchell, Whittles, Desai and Botelho all qualified for the ECACs come February. "To qualify for Easterns in your opening meet is very impressive," assistant coach Tony Tenisci said. "Those were all very fine, quality performances." So as the Quakers head into Fairfax, Va., this weekend, coaches Costanza and Tenisci hope the team can pull another quality performance before winter break begins.