W. Track disappoints at Heps

After a promising performance a week earlier at the George Mason Invitational, the Penn women's track team looked to finish off the team portion of its indoor schedule with a strong showing at the Heptagonal Championships in Boston last weekend. Unfortunately, the Quakers' momentum did not carry them as far as they would have liked, as the Red and Blue capped off their indoor season with a disappointing eighth-place finish out of nine squads. The only team that the Quakers -- who compiled 19 points for the weekend -- managed to outscore was Columbia, which finished with a mere 12 points. Brown placed first at Heps with 120 points. Harvard (110) was second, while Yale (88) finished third. "It wasn't as good as we wanted to do, but everyone tried hard and we're definitely capable of doing better," Penn junior Jeraldine Cofie said. There were, however, some individual bright spots for the Quakers. Senior Bassey Adjah finished third in the pentathlon by tallying 3,657 points -- her highest total this year. She also placed third in the long jump (19'6") and seventh in the 60-meter hurdles (9.64 seconds). Senior Jennifer Thompson triple jumped her way to a fifth-place finish for the Quakers. Thompson's leap was recorded at 38'2 3/4", which marks her longest jump of the year. The Red and Blue also raced to a fifth-place finish in the one-mile relay. Cofie, senior Kiki Snooks and sophomores Petra Stewart and Alexandra Bliss combined to run a time of 3:54.17. This fifth-place relay finish is encouraging for the Quakers. Not only was their time the best that the Red and Blue have recorded all year, but the Quakers accomplished this feat without their best relay ensemble. "It's great that even with what we ran in the relay, we still placed," Cofie said. Another consolation for the Quakers in a subpar weekend performance was the experience gained by the freshmen. Several freshmen competed last weekend, which should help in the long run. "It was good that some freshmen competed so they can develop and get stronger," Cofie said. Still, a few strong finishes and valuable freshmen experience does not overshadow the Quakers' lackluster end to the indoor season. But the Red and Blue are optimistic they will heat up with the warmer spring weather that accompanies the outdoor track season. "We had a lot of strong performances and people feel that they perform better outdoors," Cofie said. "Everyone will be better and stronger and I think that we're set to compete harder for the next season."

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