The Penn women's track team traveled all the way to Raleigh, N.C., last weekend to take on a slew of fiercely competitive teams from all over the country. And the Quakers managed to place in the top 25 in a few events at the Raleigh Relays, showing that an Ivy League underdog can hang with the big names in track. In Raleigh, Penn faced nationally prominent opponents, including the North Carolina, Temple, North Carolina State and Seton Hall. "We saw a lot of speed that was just amazing to watch," Penn assistant coach Tony Tenisci said. "The meet was really competitive and it was great experience to run against that caliber of competition." The Quakers started off the weekend with a handicap. Penn is inevitably behind the southern teams in experience this year due to geography and weather circumstances. Some of the southern teams have already had at least four or five meets outdoors, whereas Penn has only had one. "At this meet, we realized a lot of teams are much further ahead of us," Tenisci said. "But we'll only get better as the weather gets better and better up here." The Quakers turned in a few stellar individual performances last weekend and finished strong in the relay events. Penn's underclassmen competed particularly well. Freshman Caroline Rebello placed sixth in the pole vault, while fellow first-year athlete Kai Ivory performed well in the javelin throw, placing 13th. Ivory was closely followed by sophomore teammate Juli Siebert-Johnson, who finished 14th. "The javelin throwers did very well in a stacked field," Tenisci said. "I think their performances were really good." Penn senior Bassey Adjah showed her talent in the long jump this past weekend, taking 16th place behind some of the nation's top jumpers. Adjah and captain JaJuan Gair also ran well in the 100-meter high hurdles. And against a lengthy list of tough competitors in the discus competition, Penn captain Monica Maccani ultimately took 22nd. "Our throwers went through marathon sessions," Tenisci said. "Each event took up to four hours; it was really hard to get through it all." The Quakers also performed well in the relay events, the main focus of the meet. Highlighting that was Penn's ninth-place finish in the 4x1,600 sprint medley relay.
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