M. Track hoping to improve at Cornell

Last weekend, the Penn men's indoor track team lost to Navy by 49 points. It would not be strange to expect Penn coach Charlie Powell to be disappointed by the finish on Saturday. Surprisingly, Powell was not angered with the Quakers' performance. "I was not pleased, not displeased," Powell said. "We just survived it." The Quakers will be looking to improve on that performance as they travel to Ithaca, N.Y., to participate in the Cornell Invitational this weekend. Saturday's meet will be a small affair, with only six teams competing. "We want to keep people healthy," Powell said. "We hope to do well on Saturday." So far this year, the team has been blessed with a few standout athletes. In the sprints, Penn junior Gene Sun has continued to improve on last year's strong performances. Sun, who won the 55-meter dash last Saturday, also placed third in the event at the Princeton Invitational on December 13. The most surprising performer this year has been sophomore O'Neil Bryan. Bryan added a win in the 55-meter hurdles last Saturday to take second-place at Princeton. "He's turning into one heck of a hurdler," Powell said. "We're pleasantly surprised with him." Powell also added that Bryan was a great asset to the team in terms of his great attitude and hard work. Naturally, no Penn track meet would be complete without the exploits of junior Tuan Wreh. Wreh cruised to wins in the long and triple jump in the tri-meet with Navy and Wake Forest. Wreh also finished first in the Princeton Invite in the long jump with a leap of 22' 9.75". In the middle distance events, the Quakers were led by Sam Burley and Brian Abram. Burley and Abram won the 1,000 and 500 meters, respectively, last Saturday. Abram will return to running the 400 on Saturday. He hopes to run the 500 in Heptagonal Championships and ran it last week for experience. "Personally, I'm looking forward to returning to the 400," Abram said. "Hopefully, I'll also be able to win." The Quakers will hopefully be getting a little more out of their distance squad. The Quakers took the last three places in the 3,000 last Saturday. "We have our big guns," Powell said. "But we're looking for other people to get some things going." Many of the Red and Blue share Powell's sentiments. "The guys on the team are looking to do much better than we did at Navy," Abram said. The extended winter break really hit the Quakers hard, but by this weekend much of the sluggishness should disappear. "Being away for a month does not allow continuity of training," Powell said. "We hope to do well and keep people healthy."

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