W. Track stellar at own Invite

The Quakers set several personal records while claiming second place. Typically a distance runner, senior captain Rita Garber proved Saturday that she has some speed to burn. At the University of Pennsylvania Invitational, Garber led the Penn women's track to a second-place finish and set a couple personal records of her own on the way. The Quakers finished with 147.50 total points, trailing only Penn State, which finished 27 points ahead of Penn. Cornell -- in third place with 109 -- was the only other team with more than 75 points. Although not running her traditional races, Garber still contributed to the Quakers' point total. She generally runs either the 5,000 meters or the 3,000 meters for the Quakers, which require endurance and pacing. But at the eight-team Invitational, Garber decided to run the 1,500 meters and the 800 meters. That event demands much more speed from Garber as opposed to the the patience to which she is accustomed. "I've done that at least one meet every season. I think that it's a good break for a change of pace and I think it's a good confidence builder," Garber said. "I spend a lot of time running distance and working on race pace and it's good to know that I can run faster when I need to." Since Garber is one of Penn's most consistent scorers, allowing her to run in different events was a risk for the Quakers -- especially against a deep and talented Nittany Lions team. But Garber did more than just prove that the risk was worth taking. She set personal records in both events with times of 2:18.08 in the 800 meters and 4:38.70 in the 1,500 meters, good enough for 10th and sixth places, respectively. "I was a little pleasantly surprised," Garber said. "They are not the races that I normally run. Those were speed races for me. "I had set goals before the races and I surpassed them both. As my [distance] coach Cricket Batz-Shaklee says, 'Strength is speed.' We've been working a lot on strength, and I think that it paid off for me this meet." Garber was not the only Quaker to excel on Saturday. The whole team was enthusiastic about its performance, including assistant coach Tony Tenisci. "We had a ton of personal records," Tenisci said. "It was an outstanding running experience for all the girls." This weekend was the first time the Quakers competed under clear skies this year. They battled severe weather conditions during the first two weekends of the outdoor season. And rain and cold spoiled both the Quaker Invitational and the Raleigh Relays in North Carolina for Penn and made many of the athletes tentative. On Saturday, however, Penn finally got an opportunity to show what it could do in optimal conditions. And the Quakers took full advantage of it. JaJuan Gair was one of the most impressive Quakers, setting personal records in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 100 meter high hurdles with times of 12.5, 25.0 and 14.10 seconds respectively. "Both girls [who finished ahead of me] really pulled me along. They got out fast, and I had to run with them," said Gair about the hurdles. "They pushed me to run faster and give a little extra." Penn's 4x100-meter relay team of Gair, senior Victoria Moore, junior Richelle Clements and senior Shana McDonald-Black also turned in an impressive 47.80 second-place time. Senior captain Jessica Mitchell joined her teammates in taking advantage of the sunny conditions on Saturday, finishing second in the 800 meters. Her time of 2:11.03 placed her just two-tenths of a second out of first. "They have to really focus in and compete well," Tenisci said. "The outdoor season is so short and they need to get good seeding times for the [Heptagonal] championships. "They have to really focus in on every opportunity they get and compete well. They need to get their legs underneath them quickly, and I think that everybody did that since they almost all had PRs one way or another." The only thing standing in Penn's way thus far has been Mother Nature. With a little luck and the Ivy League season still ahead of them, the Quakers may be able to surprise a few more unsuspecting opponents.