W. Track hopes to get out of the rain at Delaware Invitational

The lyrics of the Bob Dylan song "Rainy Day Women" are totally unrelated to track and field. The title, however, fittingly describes the Penn women's track team as it attempts to repeat last year's performance this weekend. The Quakers travel to Newark, Del., to compete in the Delaware Invitational. At the '98 Invite, Penn set three school records and several personal bests on its way to a first-place finish. The weather has been Penn's toughest opponent this season. Wednesday's frigid temperatures and freezing rain made practice especially hard. "It's interesting," assistant coach Tony Tenisci said. "The weather has been a problem for getting everybody tuned? for Saturday. We tried to get everyone limber, loose and ready." Tenisci also stressed the importance of keeping everybody healthy heading into February -- the most important month of the indoor track season -- which ends with the Heptagonal Championships in Ithaca, N.Y., and the ECAC Championships in Boston. While every Quaker aims to qualify for the ECACs, Penn's strengths are "basically technical -- jumping, throwing, hurdles," Tenisci said. For the success of the team overall, the sprinters need to overcome the weather with improved performances. "Our sprinters really have to get into it," Tenisci said. "We're not getting as much out of them as we should, and that's partly because of the weather." The sprinters echoed their coach's sentiments. "I'm pleased thus far. I know I can improve," said senior Vicki Moore, who runs the 400 and the 4x400 relay. "We practice outside and we're just trying to work around the weather." Junior Richelle Clements, who runs the 55- and 200-meter sprints, along with the quarter-mile, agreed with Moore. "Sprinters are a little bit down right now, but we're hoping that's because of the weather," Clements said. The weather is not the only element Clements must overcome, howver. "Indoor's been kind of shaky for me," Clements said. "I didn't run it in high school." Clements missed last year's indoor season with an injury. Tomorrow's meet will be her first of this season, as she is again coming off of an injury. Penn is not entirely homeless when it comes to getting away from the weather. Moore spoke of a structure just across the Spruce Street Bridge, known to the athletes as "the bubble." "But it's not really a track and you can only do really short sprints," Moore said. Regardless of the status of "the bubble," and future improvements to Penn's indoor facilities, both Moore and Clements are very positive about the team's prospects for the future. Moore thinks that Penn has a good shot at winning the Heps in February. But if the Quakers are going to be successful, they must first get accustomed to the weather. "We're still trying to get our rhythm together," Moore said. "One day it's 30 degrees, and the next it's 45 or 50."