M. Track heads to Heps looking for second place

It figures to be a race for second this weekend as the Penn men's track team heads to the Leverone Field House in Hanover, N.H., for the Indoor Heptagonal Championships. Princeton again figures to be too strong for the rest of the Ivy squads and Navy as it looks to win its sixth consecutive Ancient Eight title. The real competition for the Quakers, therefore, is for the silver medal. "Princeton is definitely the strongest team going in," Penn sophomore distance runner Nolan Tully said. "There are five or six teams that are all evenly matched just below Princeton. We are one of those." While the Quakers might not win their first Indoor Heps title since 1997, they figure to be in the running for several individual titles. "We're really good individually," Penn senior Sam Burley said. "If we matched up one-on-one against Princeton, we'd kill them. The fact is they're much deeper than we are, so they have people coming in second and third place where we don't." Penn senior Brian Abram will be looking to claim his second title in the long sprints category. While Abram finished third last year, he claimed the gold medal in 2001 when he finished the 500 meters in 1:03.89. Penn's Chris Edmonds will also be looking for his second individual title -- the junior won the 400m race last season in 48.89. Abram and Edmonds are the only two Ivy Leaguers to run sub-48 second 400m races this year. The Quakers also figure to take home some individual titles in the middle distance races. Penn's Burley is arguably the Ancient Eight's best runner in this category. "Last year I didn't do very well -- I got second in the 800," he said. "This year I'm running the 400, 1,000, and the 4x800. I'd like to win all of them. I've never done well indoor at this meet, so I need to fix that this weekend." In the straightaways category, Penn's best chance at medal may come from junior hurdler Matt Wedge. Last year, Wedge finished fourth for the Quakers with an 8.24 in the 60m hurdles, but he has steadily improved, notching an 8.13 at Penn State in late-January. Penn's best shot at a win in the long distance runs will come from sophomore Dusty Lieb. Lieb, an All-American in the fall on the cross country team, finished fourth in last year's Indoor 5,000m with a 14:36.40. It will be difficult for Lieb to take the gold medal, however, as he is matched up against Dartmouth senior Tom McArdle -- not only one of the Ivy's best runners, but one of the nation's elite as well. McArdle, an All-American in cross country, indoor, and outdoor, has won the 5,000m at Indoor and Outdoor Heps for the last two years. In order to have a strong showing as a team, Penn will need to step up in areas where they are not favored. "We're strong in the 400, 500, and 800 -- short middle-distance events -- and it's important we score a lot of points in those events," Tully said. "But we also must get some points from places where we don't expect them."

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