M. Track encouraged with indoor opener at Princeton

Score or no score, the Penn men's track team competed valiantly Saturday, as it opened the indoor season at the Princeton Holiday Invitational. The Quakers might have crossed the Delaware thinking that Saturday's meet would be a mere tune-up for the rest of the season, but once the competitors stepped on the floor at Princeton, their athletic instincts kicked into high gear. Though team scores were not tallied on Saturday, four Quakers won their respective individual events. "Once we got started, we got very competitive," sophomore Tuan Wreh said. Wreh won the long jump with a personal-best distance of 23'4.5". The length of Wreh's winning leap surprised even Wreh himself, as the sophomore qualified for IC4As in the season's very first meet. "My goal for this meet was to just work on some technicalities of my event," Wreh said. Ironically, Wreh was not even considering the IC4A berth in preparation for Saturday. Still, he is pleased to have gained a spot in the March championship competition so early. "You want to qualify for the big meets," Wreh said. "They are a big measuring mark for your abilities as an athlete." In addition to Wreh, Penn seniors Matt Pagliasotti and Bob Reynolds both recorded victories in their events and qualified for the IC4As. Freshman Joe Nessler captured first place in the high jump with a height of 6' 5" but did not exceed the necessary height required for an invitation to Blacksburg, Va., the site of this this year's IC4As. Pagliasotti threw the 35-pound weight 55' 8.5" and Reynolds cleared a mark of 16' 1" in the pole vault. Much like Wreh, Reynolds' victory was something of a surprise. He too had set goals that focused more on mechanics and mentality than on competitive performance. After sitting out second semester last year so he could concentrate more on his academic performance, Reynolds looked to recover some of his form at Princeton. "My goal for the meet was to get my confidence back," Reynolds said. Reynolds did more than just regain his confidence on Saturday. By winning the event, Reynolds also came within two inches of a personal record. The Pittsburgh native roundly praised the rest of Penn's pole vaulting corps, pointing out that junior Josh Coleman and senior John Church had achieved personal bests, while junior Luke Stokes also came within inches of doing so. Reynolds offered tempered enthusiasm about qualifying for the IC4As -- the feat is nothing new to him. "I've only missed one IC4As in my college career," Reynolds said. With such sterling individual efforts on Saturday, Penn can begin to talk about possibly dethroning Princeton as the king of men's track in the Ivy League. But, of course, that will not be easy. "As champions, they're not just going to give away their title," Wreh said. Yet Reynolds insists that the talent and the mindset are intact for the Quakers to do some damage. "From yesterday, we're even more psyched up about winning a championship," he said.

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