The Penn men's and women's track teams enter this weekend's Outdoor Heptagonal Championships in very different scenarios.
Last year, the men's team rode a 1-2-3 finish in the 100 meter dash to a victory, while the women's team took sixth for the second straight season.
But the two teams will be looking to topple Ivy League foes and Navy this weekend.
Both teams will be heading to Annapolis, Md., after a one-week break due to final exams. Although most Penn sports did not compete during the two weeks of finals, many members of the Quakers ran during the Penn Relays, held from April 25-27.
Additionally, junior distance runner Sam Burley ran last weekend at the George Mason Invitational. In a race featuring 25 of the nation's top runners, Burley finished second, losing only to 2000 Brown graduate Trinity Gray, the top 800 meter runner in the United States last year.
Gray ran a 1:47.60. Burley ran a 1:47.86, which moved him into second on the all-time 800m list at Penn behind Robin Martin.
The two-time All-American is ranked 10th by TrackWire.com in the nation in the 800 meters. His 1:47.86 time is the sixth-fastest time run in the NCAA this season.
On the women's side, junior javelin thrower Julie Siebert-Johnson could challenge Columbia's Lindsey Stephenson for the title.
Although Stephenson is the Heps recordholder, Johnson had a 153 foot, 10 inch throw at Penn Relays, which was over 10 feet better than her mark at Heps last season. Johnson has provisionally qualified for NCAA Championships.
Also competing for the men's team is Tuan Wreh, who has won six Heps titles in his four-year career at Penn. The senior, a standout in the long, triple and high jumps, was 15th in last year's NCAA Outdoor Championships in the triple jump.
In the triple jump this year, Wreh has jumped over four feet further than any other Ivy League competitor.
O'Neil Bryan, another senior, looks to end his Heps career on the right foot as well. Bryan was the Indoor Heps champion in the 60-meter hurdles. In the outdoor season, sophomore teammate Matt Wedge is the only Ivy opponent with a better time than Bryan. Wedge has run a 14.48 this year, while Bryan has run a 14.49.
Sophomore Brian Chaput has battled injuries this year, but recorded a javelin throw of 232 feet, 6 inches, the longest throw of any of the Ivy League teams and a provisional qualifying mark for NCAAs.
Also for the Quakers, senior sprinter Steve Faulk, last year's 100 meter Heps champion, will look to have a repeat performance this season. Faulk was also fourth in the 200 meters last year.
Junior Brian Abram should also strengthen the Quakers' bid for a second-straight championship. Last year, Abram was fourth in the 400 meters. He anchored Penn's Heptagonal 4x400 meter relay championship team at the Penn Relays.
Penn's mile relay team, traditionally a strength for the Quakers, consists of Luqman Kolade, Chris Edmonds, Burley and Abram. At the Penn Relays, the Quakers topped Cornell by two-hundreths of a second, finishing with a time of 3:13.06. It was Penn's second-consecutive Penn Relays Heptagonal 4x400 championship, having won the event with a time of 3:12.94 in the event in 2001.
Back on the women's side, Jeraldine Cofie will look to continue improving in the 400 meters. Cofie was fifth in the 400 in the Indoor Heps with a time of 57.76 but has run 56.53 in the spring.
Cofie has qualified for the ECACs in the 400 meters and won the 400 on April 20 in a meet against Ivy powerhouse Cornell.
In that meet against Cornell, the Quakers showed their strength in the field events. The Quakers went 1-2-3 in the pole vault. Freshman Samantha Crook took first with a height of 11'9.75". Behind her were a pair of Penn sophomores --ÿCaroline Rebello, who had a height of 11'1.75", and Ingrid Gustafson, who vaulted 10 feet.
In addition to Siebert-Johnson, Kai Ivory has also had a strong year in the javelin and has an all-time best of over 140 feet. Siebert-Johnson won the javelin in the meet against the Big Red and Ivory was second.
And in the triple jump at the Cornell meet, junior Megan Moran also took first place with a measurement of 38 feet.
The Quakers will look to their field events to carry them to a stronger finish than in the indoor season when Penn placed ninth in the Heps. But many of Penn's top field athletes -- in addition to the Red and Blue's top runners --ÿhave improved greatly during the spring season. The Quakers pulled off an upset when they took down Princeton and Yale in a tri-meet at Franklin Field on April 13.
The men's track team took second at the Indoor Heps for the second consecutive season, behind Princeton. Last year at the Outdoor Heps, the Tigers were second to the Quakers with Penn outdistancing Princeton by a score of 136.5-117.
