W. Track loses to Princeton but happy

The Penn-Princeton rivalry is as fierce as always. Or is it...? Before the meet, members of the Penn women's track team were adamant about beating the Tigers, and junior Tania Sabino even said "we're looking for blood." However, losing to Princeton in a tri-meet with Penn State last weekend did not faze the Red and Blue. "I was just as pleased as a pumpkin," Penn coach Gwen Harris said about her team's performance. Pleased that the Quakers scored 75 points, while Princeton racked up 104 and Penn State won the meet with 137? Pleased that the team won only one out of 15 events? "Even though we didn't win, everyone was pretty happy," freshman Charity Payne said. "Our coach was happy with the people who scored and at how a lot of times are really improving." Penn's Grace Maloney claimed first-place in the high jump by clearing 5 feet, 7 inches. Not only was this height the junior's personal best, it also earned her a place in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference championships. Penn succeeded in other jumping events, as sophomore Samantha Crook finished second in the pole vault with a personal best of 11'11 3/4" Although she achieved the same height as Penn State's Sara Daugherty -- the top scorer in the event -- Crook had more misses than Daugherty, earning her second place. Crook's fellow jumper Meghan Moran earned points for Penn in both the long and the triple jump. Moran's 37'1" triple jump was good enough to put her in second place. Despite her performance, more indicative of the result were the Quakers who did not score points due to missing the meet. "Of course it would have been nice to beat Princeton," Harris said. "But the fact is that we had several people who were injured and a few others just coming off an injury." Among those injured was sophomore sprinter Izu Emeagwali, who took the week off because of shin splints. From the sidelines, Emeagwali was most excited by pole-vaulter Ingrid Gustafson's surprise performance in the 60-meter dash. Her time of 8.37 seconds earned two points for the team and a sixth place finish overall. According to Emeagwali, Harris had the pole vaulters compete in a running event to improve their form. "It was fun to run the 60 meter dash," freshman pole vaulter Lauren Davis said. "I had never ran any sprinting event before, not even in high school." Sticking to the field, Payne's 43'5 1/4" shot put throw put her in third place behind two Penn State athletes and just a foot and a half behind her ultimate goal of 45 feet. "I am never really satisfied. I came off a week of resting myself -- my leg had been sore," Payne said. "Given that I had been taking it easy, I think I did pretty well." Emeagwali said that she expects her teammates to improve even more next weekend at the Armory Invitational in New York. She claims that everyone, especially the longer distance runners, made personal best performances over the weekend and feel positive about the last few upcoming meets before Heptagonals. "We're ready for the rest of the season," Harris said. "I just know it."

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